Trainer Ken Keys has spent a lifetime around horses, and he knows how to spot a genuinely talented youngster when one walks into his stable.

Although top two-year-olds haven’t been common for the Keys team, he holds high expectations for Alibaba, who will debut in Saturday’s Listed Merson Cooper Stakes (1000m) at Caulfield.

Keys’ first standout juvenile was Saloon Rule—who won the 1988 Merson Cooper and later started favourite in the Blue Diamond Stakes before missing the kick and finishing last.

From the moment Alibaba arrived, Keys saw similarities between the colt and the best youngsters he has trained.

“Not that we’ve had many, but of the ones we’ve had, he’s right up there,” Keys said.

“Once you’ve had one good two-year-old, you know what is required. We’ve had a lot that aren’t her (Saloon Rule), but he’s up there.

“He’s pretty natural, and I don’t want to build him up too far, but when you see him, you’ll go ‘wow’, he’s one of those horses.”

Alibaba captured a Cranbourne jump-out in September, was freshened, then returned to win a Caulfield Heath trial last week.

Keys admitted he briefly considered sending him back to the paddock again.

“Originally, I was planning on putting him out after the trial, but I went and sat in the tractor for the rest of the afternoon, and I had too much time to think,” Keys said.

“The Merson Cooper has produced nice horses for a long time, I don’t know why, and I’m hoping, the good ones up until now, will be enjoying their spring break.”

The race’s honour roll includes Palm Angel (2025), Little Brose (2022), Anamoe (2020), Hanseatic (2019), Long Leaf (2019), Thurlow (2014), Marveen (2007) and Freestyle (2004).

Keys says the main area he wants to see improvement is in Alibaba’s behaviour before the race, particularly for jockey Craig Williams.

“He did a few things wrong in the mounting yard the other day, he was a bit naughty, so who knows what his manners are going to be like, but on the track, he was good,” Keys said.

“It’s good when you think what you’ve got, and Craig gives you a similar report.”

While optimistic, Keys is keeping forward plans open—Alibaba was not entered for the Blue Diamond Stakes but does hold a nomination for the Golden Slipper.

“I didn’t enter him in the Diamond, as you don’t know back in June, but he’s in the Golden Slipper, so who knows,” Keys said.

“That’s part of the dream.”

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