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Another emphatic win by Tony McEvoy’s undefeated colt Royal Symphony has the up-and-comer on track for the Ladbrokes Caulfield Guineas 2017 this spring.
The Domesday two-year-old made it three wins from as many starts, stealing the show at Flemington on Finals Day over the weekend with a runaway effort in the $120,000 Listed Taj Rossi Series Final (1600m).
Jumping odds-on favourite at $1.50, Royal Symphony didn’t disappoint the punters boasting a four and a quarter-length winning margin over the Darren Weir-trained runner-up Anchor Bid in the mile clash.
Evil Cry rounded out the trifecta in third a further three-quarters back, Robbie Laing’s Street Cry colt still a maiden after five starts.
Royal Symphony debuted at Pakenham on the synthetic over 1200m in late May winning by over three lengths.
He came into Saturday’s black-type, his first stakes test and first run over the 1600m, off a nearly four length victory at Flemington over 1400m on June 24.
Dwayne Dunn has partnered the boom youngster for his trio of wins to date, including the showstopper over the weekend where Royal Symphony missed the kick but still managed to annihilate his rivals.
McEvoy admitted Royal Symphony, part-owned by jockey Dunn’s wife Amanda, was proving to be an even better horse than he had initially though after the barnstorming success giving the weight away to his rivals with 59kg.
“He probably is after that,” he told the media post-win on Saturday.
“I don’t know how good those horses are behind him – not being disrespectful, but the second horse is a maiden – but when you carry that sort of weight and can do that, it shows you’re a good horse.”
It was exactly the kind of performance McEvoy wanted to see as he sets Royal Symphony for a shot at the $2 million Group 1 Ladbrokes Caulfield Guineas (1600m) on October 14.
“He looked like a horse of real substance today, that’s what we’ve always thought of him and, now that we’ve seen it twice I’m really comfortable putting him away and thinking the spring is the right thing to do,” he said.
“I’ve got such a variety of things I can do with him at home at Kildalton Park [in Angaston], so we’ll just keep him interested and happy.
“We’ll back right off, keep him trot and cantering and have an English preparation.
“This Guineas is such a high-pressure, high-powered mile, I think third-up there will give him his best chance.”
The bookies have acted accordingly after the weekend’s race result, Royal Symphony the firming favourite in pre-field Caulfield Guineas odds online.
Dunn has ridden two recent Caulfield Guineas winners to victory aboard All Too Hard (2012) and Divine Prophet (2016) for Team Hawkes, and believes Royal Symphony looks a genuine hope in the 2017 edition of the three-years-old spring feature.
“You probably don’t know until a lead-up race if he’ll be up to them and he’s got to get back to Caulfield, a different track again, but the tempo should be hot and give him his chance to finish off the same way,” he said.
To back Royal Symphony over the spring at the right racing odds head to the Caulfield Guineas 2017 sponsor Ladbrokes.com.au today.
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