Jon Snow
Race Images Palmerston North
Jon Snow's preparation for Riccarton hasn't gone entirely to plan, but the talented three-year-old is thriving nevertheless.
The Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman-trained son of Iffraaj will go into Saturday week's Gr.1 Sothys NZ 2000 Guineas off the back of one lead-up outing.
"It's just the way things have worked out after we struck a bad track early on and he missed a run," Forsman said.
"Running him in the Hawke's Bay Guineas wasn't the ideal thing to do first-up, but he did run very well and he's done everything right since."
The colt got home strongly at Hastings to split Mongolian Falcon and Heroic Valour, who have since posted black type placings at Te Rapa and Ashburton respectively.
"He's looking for a mile so we didn't want run him in the Sarten, where on a good track they may have gone a bit quick for him, so we decided to keep him fresh for Riccarton," Forsman said.
To be ridden by Opie Bosson, Jon Snow is currently at $10 in the Guineas market.
The three-year-old will be accompanied to Christchurch by the in-form stayer Maygrove and the Group One performer Charmont.
"Maygrove will race in the Metropolitan on the first day and then back up in the New Zealand Cup," Forsman said. "He's doing very well."
Fourth this time last year in both the Gr.3 Geelong Cup and the Gr.3 Bendigo Cup, he opened his Riccarton preparation with a fifth placing over ground at Hastings behind the subsequent Gr.1 Livamol Classic runner-up Humidor.
Maygrove then produced a dominant performance to win the Listed Jakkelberry Classic at Rotorua, which earned him $6 favouritism for the Gr.3 Christchurch Casino New Zealand Cup.
Charmont's two runs this season, both at Te Rapa, have produced minor placings for the Gr.2 Coupland's Bakeries-bound mare, who finished third in last season's Gr.3 South Island Breeders' Stakes at Riccarton. – NZ Racing Desk.
The Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman-trained son of Iffraaj will go into Saturday week's Gr.1 Sothys NZ 2000 Guineas off the back of one lead-up outing.
"It's just the way things have worked out after we struck a bad track early on and he missed a run," Forsman said.
"Running him in the Hawke's Bay Guineas wasn't the ideal thing to do first-up, but he did run very well and he's done everything right since."
The colt got home strongly at Hastings to split Mongolian Falcon and Heroic Valour, who have since posted black type placings at Te Rapa and Ashburton respectively.
"He's looking for a mile so we didn't want run him in the Sarten, where on a good track they may have gone a bit quick for him, so we decided to keep him fresh for Riccarton," Forsman said.
To be ridden by Opie Bosson, Jon Snow is currently at $10 in the Guineas market.
The three-year-old will be accompanied to Christchurch by the in-form stayer Maygrove and the Group One performer Charmont.
"Maygrove will race in the Metropolitan on the first day and then back up in the New Zealand Cup," Forsman said. "He's doing very well."
Fourth this time last year in both the Gr.3 Geelong Cup and the Gr.3 Bendigo Cup, he opened his Riccarton preparation with a fifth placing over ground at Hastings behind the subsequent Gr.1 Livamol Classic runner-up Humidor.
Maygrove then produced a dominant performance to win the Listed Jakkelberry Classic at Rotorua, which earned him $6 favouritism for the Gr.3 Christchurch Casino New Zealand Cup.
Charmont's two runs this season, both at Te Rapa, have produced minor placings for the Gr.2 Coupland's Bakeries-bound mare, who finished third in last season's Gr.3 South Island Breeders' Stakes at Riccarton. – NZ Racing Desk.