Highview

This month’s New Zealand Derby runner-up Down The Road will be heading to the Sydney autumn carnival.Matamata-based bloodstock agent Paul Beamish, who manages the high-class three-year-old for his Hong Kong owner Derek Wong, confirmed Down The Road will leave New Zealand on March 24.The plan is for the Danroad three-year-old to contest the Group 1 Rosehill Guineas (2000m)  in Sydney on March 28 as a lead-up to a crack at the Group 1 A$1.6 million AJC Derby (2400m) at Randwick on April 11.“He had a week off after the New Zealand Derby and has come back into work bucking his brands off,” said Beamish.“So we are confident that there is still plenty of gas left in the tank for the two races in Sydney.” Ken Kelso and Thomas Russell-trained Down The Road went down by the narrowest of margins behind Australian-trained three-year-old Coniston Bluebird in the Group 1 Telecom New Zealand Derby at Ellerslie on March 1.Down The Road had won the Championship Stakes (2000m) at Ellerslie prior to contesting the New Zealand Derby and is one of the highest-rated three year olds in New  Zealand this season. He has won three times in nine appearances and has weighed in at his last seven starts. His stake-earnings to date stand at a very healthy $492,928.