Racing: Lickety Split in prelude to big things

Lickety Split will contest the Thousand Guineas Prelude (1400m) at Caulfield on Saturday. Photo / Trish Dunell

Australian punters will get their first look at New Zealand Group 1 winner Lickety Split at Caulfield on Saturday where she will contest the Group 2 Thousand Guineas Prelude (1400m).

The daughter of Turn Me Loose impressed as a juvenile when winning two of her three starts, including the Group 1 Sistema Stakes (1200m) at Ellerslie in March.

She resumed in superb fashion at Ruakaka last month when winning the Group 3 Northland Breeders' Stakes (1200m), after which the decision was made to head across the Tasman with the promising filly.

"The way she won first-up, she had the signs of a horse looking for further already, she was really strong late through the line," trainer Andrew Forsman said.

"She hasn't had a lot of racing but she has won three of her four starts and not by big margins, and that was very similar to Turn Me Loose."

Forsman trained her sire in partnership with Murray Baker to seven victories from 20 starts, including wins in the Group 1 Emirates Stakes (1600m), Group 1 Futurity Stakes (1400m), and Group 1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m).

Lickety Split travelled to Melbourne shortly after her Group 3 win and Forsman has been pleased with the way she has settled in.

"I think she is pretty forward. She has been over there a few weeks now and had a jumpout which was nice to give her that day out to keep her up to the mark," Forsman said.

Forsman is looking forward to getting a line on his filly this weekend and see how she measures up against her Australian counterparts.

"If she begins well enough she could roll forward and sit handy," he said.

"She has been a little bit hit and miss out of the gates but from barrier eight, if she gets out of the gates cleanly, she does have enough tactical speed to put herself there."

Forsman is also looking forward to Mr Maestro's next assignment, the Victoria Derby Preview (1800m) at Flemington on Sunday.

The stakes performer has had two runs in Australia, finishing fourth at The Valley last start.

"At this stage the plan is to run him in the Derby trial, hopefully he gets a reasonable track there," Forsman said. "It will be a month between runs which is not ideal but just the way his campaign has mapped out it looks the right option for him."

Back in New Zealand, Forsman will have representation at Te Rapa on Saturday in Group 3 winner White Noise and Group 1 winner True Enough.

"White Noise and True Enough will go around in the open mile at Te Rapa providing we get a reasonable track which looks like it will be the case," Forsman said.

"Hopefully White Noise is a Livamol [Group 1, 2040m] horse, it will depend how he goes on a better track and how the race shapes up. He is still pretty well placed in the handicap at this point and we need to be mindful of that as well.

"It is an option but there are other good options for him with how he is rated."

- NZ Racing Desk