15 July 2008
Cambridge trainer Murray Baker will chase further Group 1 success with smart young galloper Fully Fledged (NZ) next season.
The exciting son of Align was successful in the Group 1 Ford Diamond Stakes as a two-year-old this season and is among the finalists in the two-year-old category at the Mercedes Thoroughbred Racing Awards function in Hamilton on August 15.
Baker said the major target for Fully Fledged this spring will be the Group 1 New Zealand Two Thousand Guineas (1600m) at Riccarton in November.
Before that he will contest the Hawke’s Bay Guineas at Hastings in September.
“He has been back in work for six weeks and looks terrific,” Baker said. “I will probably give him a trial at Taupo before he goes back to the race but I’m very happy with the way he’s coming up in this preparation.”
“He is a horse with a lot of talent and is at his best on firm footing. That is why he didn’t handle the unexpected soft track which he struck in the Manawatu Sires Produce Stakes,” Baker said.
Baker said Fully Fledged didn’t help himself in some of his races with some wayward racing behavior. “At home he’s basically a quiet horse so it surprised me when he did a few things wrong on race-day. I believe he will come right with experience,” Baker said.
Fully Fledged won twice and weighed in at five of his six outings as a two-year-old. He won on debut at the Taupo meeting last December. In his Group 1 Ford Diamond Stakes win he defeated Raid and subsequent Ford Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes winner Il Quello Veloce.
