“I rang [racing manager] Bruce Perry before that race last week and told him I thought this horse was racing like a Derby contender,” says Marsh.
“I knew he would go well last week but I was already toying with the idea of the quick back-up regardless of what happened because I wanted to start him down the Derby path.
“Bruce supported the idea and the horse has bounced out of last week really well, so here we are.
“We like him, everybody saw how well he ran on last week and he has to be a real chance this Sunday.”
Marsh has two in the Salver and the other is last-start winner Los Salsero, one of the few sons of world champion stallion Frankel racing in New Zealand.
He, too, has given Marsh the indications he will develop into a Derby contender and while Ammirati has the proven class heading into today’s race, Marsh says the Frankel factor could be kicking in with Los Salsero.
“He has never disappointed us, even when he was running on in shorter races on smaller tracks when he was going to struggle to win.
“He has kept improving too and I wouldn’t be surprised if he stepped up in the next few starts and becomes a real Derby contender.”
That could be the story for so many in today’s race, as the races past 2000m soon reveal the Derby contenders and those who may lack the strength or attitude for the classic this early in their careers.
One who looks ready for 2100m is Yamato Satona, who races in the famous colours of harness racing trainer Barry Purdon, and has found the line well over 1400m and 1600m in his last two starts.
He is one of three reps in the Gingernuts for trainers Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott.
Today’s meeting is the last at Ellerslie before the mammoth Karaka Millions meeting on January 24, and the first race provides an opportunity for seven of the nine juveniles in the field to qualify for the Karaka Millions.
Race 2 is a strong three-year-old race, while Race 3 gives Bonecrusher Stakes winner That’s Gold a seemingly perfect chance to return to winning form, with his biggest concern being a potential lack of mid-race tempo.
Today’s black-type trials before the races will attract almost as many eyeballs as the serious stuff, with our best three-year-old from last season, Savaglee, having his first proper outing since finishing second in the Australian Guineas in the first of the two 1100m catchweights.
“We will know a lot more about what he does next after this trial,” says trainer Pam Gerard.
“It is not impossible he still goes to the Railway [January 24] and he might even need to do that if he is going to the BCD Sprint at Te Rapa.”
Alabama Lass steps out in the second trial today in preparation for the Railway, where it is hoped she will stave off the Australian challenge.
Meanwhile, Marsh says his unbeaten filly Well Written will have her final Karaka Millions Three-Year-Old prep run with a gallop on the course proper at Ellerslie on January 20.
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.
