The traditional venue for Flemington’s Derby and Oaks preview races has undergone a change this year.
This year, the two classic previews have been amalgamated into a single event, scheduled to be run at Caulfield on Saturday, maintaining the established 1800-meter journey.
The training partnership of Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young, based in Cranbourne, will have a dual presence in the HKJC World Pool Classics Preview (1800m) on Saturday, with Arashi Flash and Icy You prepared to compete.
Both horses are coming off recent wins and are on a trajectory towards the Group 1 Victoria Derby (2500m) at Flemington next month.
Arashi Flash improved with the increased distance, winning over 1547m at Geelong on August 28. Icy You, after debuting with a second place on the synthetic track at Pakenham, scored over 1600m at Echuca on August 30.
“This race is a nice lead-up,” Young said.
“Arashi Flash, he won really nicely at Geelong, and he’s ticked over nicely through it.
“If you are heading towards a Derby trip, and he is a horse that is out of a Zabeel mare, it is a nice progression.
“Icy You, he ran second on the synthetic at his first start and then won well at Echuca.
“He may not have beaten great competition, but he did it easy and Froggy (Craig Newitt) was looking back over his shoulder.
“He’s worked up super and he has to get around Caulfield, but he’s bred to get out to that sort of trip.
“It’s nice to have those sorts of horses at this time of year heading down that Derby path.”
Young stated that the stable would use the results from Saturday’s race to gauge whether it would be advantageous to pursue other Derby lead-up races in the coming weeks with the pair.
“There is the Super Impose Stakes coming up, there is the Caulfield Classic, there’s the Geelong Classic,” Young said.
“They are all nice races, and this is progression to those, but they have to put their hands up to show they are up to city grade.
“You can’t win it, if you’re not in it.”
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