Racing: Andrew Forsman eyes a transtasman treat

Andrew Forsman. Photo / Trish Dunell

Trainer Andrew Forsman will be keeping an eye on both sides of the Tasman on Saturday, with the Cambridge horseman set to have runners at both New Zealand venues, as well as Caulfield.

Turn The Ace, The Finnster and Russian Satire will all run at Te Rapa, with the former on trial for upcoming black-type targets when he steps out in the JF Grylls Memorial Classic (1400m) after an unplaced first-up effort at Pukekohe.

“It was a very deep track and he couldn’t get his legs out of it. He can handle most wet tracks, but fresh up he just found it a bit too tough,” Forsman said.

Turn The Ace holds a nomination for the Group 3 Winter Cup (1600m) and his immediate future will be decided after the weekend.

“It’s an option, that’s for sure, and if he was able to win on Saturday we could look at the Ōpunake Cup [Listed, 1400m] as a lead-up, but he is still yet to prove himself in open class,” Forsman said.

Two-year-old Bella Ragazza will head to Awapuni in a bid to turn her form around in the 2YO (1100m) following an unplaced effort in the Listed Castletown Stakes (1200m), while in Australia, Saint Bathans finished fifth following a break over 1400m at Caulfield and will return there for the BM84 Handicap (1700m) on Saturday.

Forsman’s stable has also bid farewell to True Enough, with time called on the career of the nine-year-old as a combination of age and difficulty placing the gelding to his best advantage resulted in his retirement.

True Enough was a versatile performer who won nine races, including the Group 1 Zabeel Classic (2000m).

“He’s been a terrific horse and toward the end of his career he had niggling setbacks at the wrong time, which made it all a bit hard but he was genuine right up to the end,” Forsman said.

True Enough enjoyed a purple patch of form in his 2019/20 season.

He claimed the Zabeel Classic, the Group 2 Mile (1600m) and the Group3 Spring Sprint (1400m) and posted Group 1 placings in the New Zealand Stakes (2000m), Herbie Dyke Stakes (2000m) and the Captain Cook Stakes (1600m).

He subsequently suffered a tendon injury that sidelined him for 16 months and he returned to run third in the Group 3 Easter Handicap (1600m) with his final appearance a midfield finish in the Group 3 Japan Trophy (1600m).

“He was still running solid races, but he was hard to place in a handicap and there was not a lot around for him at weight-for-age,” Forsman said.

“He was getting older and lacked that bit of dash he had when he was younger and while he wasn’t running poorly, he didn’t owe us anything so we have retired him.”

- LoveRacing News