New Zealand galloper Aegon has taken no harm from what turned out to be longer than expected travel to Melbourne to run at Caulfield.

Aegon and his Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman-trained stablemate The Chosen One were delayed on the tarmac in New Zealand ahead of their departure.

The Group 1 Memsie Stakes (1400m) on Saturday will be Aegon’s debut in Melbourne.

“It was a longer trip than ideal, but he seems to have coped with it well enough,” Forsman told RSN.

“He and The Chosen One cantered around Flemington this morning and seem to have settled in well.”

Forsman pointed to the $1 million prize money on offer for the Memsie Stakes as to why the son of Sacred Falls has arrived in Melbourne.

“We have a race here (New Zealand) in a couple of weeks for $200,000 which was going to be a pretty tough race, not that the Memsie isn’t, but they would be similar quality fields,” Forsman said.

“So, we thought we might as well go over for $1 million and have a crack.”

A winner of his first five starts, including the Group 2 Hobartville Stakes at Rosehill in February, Aegon suffered his first defeat in the Randwick Guineas the following month when finishing sixth.

He has not raced since running 12th to Cascadian in The Doncaster at Randwick in April.

“Physically he’s probably a similar sort of horse to what he was in the autumn,” Forsman said.

“He hasn’t really grown or bulked up too much. He is going very well and if he runs up to that Hobartville form, or his best form, that should see him competitive.

“We’ve given him one public trial on a very heavy track, so we just went around. That was a trip away and a day out for him more than anything.

“I think he’s forward enough as he’s not a hard horse to get fit.”

Article from JustHorseRacing.com.au