Trainer Mike Moroney has revealed that Araldo Junior will likely push forward in the early stages of the 2015 Bendigo Cup tomorrow afternoon.
Craig Newitt has been booked to ride Araldo Junior in the 2015 Bendigo Cup. Photo by: Adrienne Bicknell
Araldo Junior was settled just behind the lead in the early stages of his first race starts in Australia at both Sandown and Pakenham and he was slow out of the gates in the Benalla Gold Cup (2046m) on October 2, but he was taken straight to the lead by jockey Patrick Moloney and he was able to run away from his rivals in the final stages of the race.
Moroney told RSN that Araldo Junior does not have to be ridden as aggressively over the 2400 metres of the Bendigo Cup, but he still expects the Medicean gelding to settle right on the speed in the early stages of the race and it will be up to jockey Craig Newitt to decide when he should go for home.
“He normally flies the gates,” Moroney said.
“That is why we were pretty keen to go forward that day, but he drew the outside gate and he just had a bit of a stare at the crowd and missed the kick.
“It was a good effort to get around them and he was quite dominant from there on.
“Over a mile and a half we will probably be able to ride him a little bit different and he will be right on the speed.
“He is going to have to have a clock in his head as to how quick they will run early.
“If they run pretty firm early he just needs to ride him like he normally would and go through his gears at the right stage of the race, but if they back the tempo off for too long he is going to have to put the pressure on.”
Araldo Junior is the half-brother to imported stayer Araldo, who finished third in the Group 1 The Metropolitan (2400m), fifth in the Group 1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) and seventh in the Group 1 Melbourne Cup (3200m) before he fractured his pasten born in his hind leg in a freak accident at the conclusion of ‘the race that stops a nation’.
Moroney believes that Araldo Junior has just as much talent as his ill-fated older brother and he revealed that the 2015 Bendigo Cup contender is more developed than Araldo at this stage of his racing career.
“He is a different type of horse,” Moroney said.
“He is a fair bit stronger, Araldo was always a lean sort of colt, took a bit of time and he was still maturing when he struck that ill-faited day.
“This horse is a lot stronger body wise, but the similarity is that they both can stay.
“His form in Europe was over 2200 metres and a mile and a half and we have got him over a mile and a half for the first time.”
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