The Spring Carnival may still be months away, but Kaleo has already put himself on the radar for trainer Ciaron Maher and the Southern Cross Syndications team with a strong maiden win at Caulfield on Saturday.
The Churchill colt stepped out for just the second time in the $150,000 Remembering Margaret McDonald Handicap over 1400m and made a clear impression, building on his fourth-place debut in the Mornington Sires (1200m).
Jack Turnbull, assistant to Maher, said the stable had always had a good opinion of the two-year-old and was pleased to see him strike early in his career.
“He’s got the makings of a nice colt who should get over a little but further,” Turnbull said.
“You’d love to be thinking about spring with a colt of this calibre now. Whether we go one more and keep him at 1400 – there’s an option on the 17th of May at Flemington – but if not we can wait and the main thing is we got today out of the way.”
Kaleo, a $150,000 purchase at the Inglis Classic Sale, is considered a potential contender for the $3 million Group 1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m) later this year.
Southern Cross Thoroughbreds has enjoyed recent success on multiple fronts, including Duke Of Bedford’s historic Warrnambool Carnival double in the Brierly Steeplechase and Grand Annual Steeplechase.
Ethan Brown was aboard Kaleo at Caulfield and while impressed, noted that the colt still has areas to improve.
The $3 chance was slow into stride but rallied well to win by 1-3/4 lengths over $2.70 betting sites favourite Prestige Ole, with Kakkoii ($3.50) finishing a further 1-1/2 lengths away in third.
“He got away with it today in a small field, but we do need to get on top of it (slow start) because he is a nice horse and I can see him running in better races – he’s going to furnish into a lovely three-year-old,” Brown said.
“It worked out well; the field came back to us, we made up ground without using up too much petrol and we were in striking distance at the right time.
“What I liked was when I asked for him, he was right there for me, so it was a good sign going forward.”