Price-Kent pair to clash at Flemington

[Wandering Eyes]

A pair of progressive New Zealand bred gallopers will head up Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr’s team at Flemington on Saturday, with Taken (NZ) (Ardrossan) and Bring Forth (NZ) (Turn Me Loose) set to face off over a mile in the Rod Johnson Handicap (1620m).

Taken has won his past three races, starting with an easy maiden success at Pakenham before posting consecutive front-running city wins over a mile.

The first was a nailbiter at Sandown, but the latest was a breathtaking three-length success at Headquarters a fortnight ago and Kent Jnr expects the son of Ardrossan to be hard to beat again this weekend, even as topweight.

Craig Williams, who is 12 wins behind the injured Blake Shinn in the 2024-25 Victorian Metropolitan Jockeys’ Premiership, will take the ride.

“He’s in fantastic form, trying to make it four in a row, which is not easy to do,” Kent Jnr said.

“He’s up to 60kg on Saturday, but he’s got a great racing pattern. He puts himself into the race, he can relax, then finds off the bridle.

“It was his career-best performance last start. If he brings that again – and that’s always a question mark, if they can keep finding that peak – then he’ll be hard to beat again.

“We cannot fault him; he’s bounced out of that run. Very sound horse, vibrant … from our point of view, he’s not gone backwards.

“Slightly harder race, I would think, looking at the nominations, but he’ll be there and he’ll be hard to beat again.”

Bring Forth, who ran fourth in the Gr.2 Sandown Guineas (1600m) last year, will line up in the same race, after narrowly breaking his maiden as a $1.40 shot at Bendigo in his previous start.

Already placed in the city as a two-year-old, Kent Jnr says Bring Forth has the ability to compete at open handicap level but still needs to learn to keep his mind on the job to race’s end.

“Metropolitan placegetter, fourth in a Sandown Guineas, (but) he’s taken a long time to win his maiden,” he said.

“$1.10 last time, or something like that and he won by a pimple. He’d just been getting there very cosily and thinking his job’s done.

“So, we’re going to put the visors on him, on the advice of Beau Mertens, just to try and focus him and also let him see if anything’s coming up beside him.

“When he did get challenged by Liam Howley’s horse at Bendigo, he fought, no worries. But he was just doing it a bit too easily, he needs to learn to put a race away.”

Bring Forth worked successfully in the visors last weekend and should they have the desired impact on race day, Kent Jnr won’t be shocked to see the three-year-old storming home late this Saturday.

“He had the visors on Saturday morning, sat off a guinea pig, was asked to go past and he did, he kept going past the post,” he said.

“I thought it was good work. He’s going to get down towards the bottom of the handicap and it would be no surprise to see him win. He’s always shown metropolitan ability.”

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