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Raceway established himself as the highest Timeform rated juvenile in Australia so far this season when winning on debut at Warwick Farm and will now attempt to follow a similar path to what Sepoy conquered last season.
Photo by Racing and Sports
The Gai Waterhouse-trained gelding was dominant at Warwick Farm over 1000m last Saturday, powering away to win by four lengths.
Raceway's eye-catching performance yielded a Timeform rating of 114 which now puts him at the top of the juvenile rankings in Australia this season.
With such a convincing winning effort on debut it should be a case of bigger and better things for the Star Thoroughbreds-raced two-year-old.
“He was exceptional on Saturday winning at Warwick Farm,” Star Thoroughbreds Denise Martin said.
“He ran extraordinary time and as he is still learning to race so clearly he can only improve.
“I saw him on Sunday morning and he has pulled up in sensational fashion.
“He is a seriously good two-year-old. Hugh Bowman said he was about half a length slow out of the barriers. He wasn't too far behind them but then he had to go wide.
“Because Hugh hadn't ridden him in work he didn't know whether to go forward as he might overrace.
“He just settled back really nicely and when he got balanced in the straight it was just all over in a few strides.
“He [Hugh Bowman] couldn't believe how well he raced. He is a very big, rangy two-year-old and he is exceptionally strong.”
Raceway's next assignment will be the Group 3 Blue Diamond Prelude (1100m) at Caulfield on February 11.
“Gai plans on hopefully taking Raceway to the Blue Diamond Preview on February 11 then onto the Blue Diamond,” Martin said.
“If he came through that [Blue Diamond] well he would have possibly a start in the Todman in Sydney then onto the Slipper.”
Such a race campaign would be reminiscent of the path Sepoy took towards winning the Group 1 Golden Slipper (1200m) last April in convincing fashion which yielded his peak Timeform rating at the time of 124.
Resuming in the 2010 Blue Diamond Preview (1000m), Sepoy picked up where he left off when winning well on debut in Maribyrnong Trial Stakes (1000m) during the 2010 Spring.
Aside from a minor blemish in the Group 2 Todman Stakes (1200m) when runner up behind boom colt Smart Missile, the Peter Snowden-trained juvenile also recorded highly regarded wins in the Blue Diamond Prelude [1100m, 122] and the Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes [1200m, 124].
Whether Raceway can emulate or go close to a stellar juvenile campaign such as Sepoy's will be seen over the coming months.
It isn't often a two-year-old dominates to the extent Sepoy did and of the youngsters who have hit the track this season, Raceway looks as the one most capable of taking up the challenge.
Any juvenile who can record a Timeform figure of 114 at debut warrants respect and all eyes will no doubt be on the More Than Ready two-year-old when he races next in the Blue Diamond Prelude.
A pair of key two-year-old performances over the past 10 days have been by Raceway at Warwick Farm last Saturday which was preceded by stablemate Drifontein recording an eye catching success in the Group 3 B.J McLachlan Stakes (1200m).
The Fastnet Rock fillies latest effort yielded a Timeform rating of 113 and is now favourite for the lucrative Magic Millions 2YO Classic (1200m) on the Gold Coast this Saturday.
These figures mean juveniles raced by Denise Martin's Star Thoroughbreds currently stand as the top two highest rated juvenile runners in the country this season, a glowing endorsement for the syndication company.
“It is great to have horses who are performing so well at this stage,” Martin said.
“Hopefully there are very high quality stakes races for both of them in the future.”