Derby favourite arrives in Melbourne

[Wandering Eyes]

New Zealand trainer Graeme Rogerson says nothing seems to faze Sharp ‘N’ Smart (NZ) (Redwood) who has arrived in Melbourne for his tilt at Group 1 Victoria Derby.

The $3 favourite with TAB for Saturday’s Group One race over 2500m at Flemington arrived in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Sharp ‘N’ Smart won the Gr.1 Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) at Rosehill on Saturday and the gelding was on the float at 5pm on Monday to make his way to Flemington.

Rogerson is not dismissing the task confronting the three-year-old on Saturday but said the son of Redwood was up to it, although the Melbourne Cup winning trainer said the gelding was still six months away from realising his potential.

“It’s a real big ask but he’s just a freak of a horse,” Rogerson said.

“He got here at a quarter-to-four this morning. Left Sydney at five o’clock last night and when I left the stable this morning, he’d nearly eaten all his breakfast.

“He raced on Saturday and at six o’clock on Sunday morning, he’d eaten everything.

“He’s such a laid-back horse. He doesn’t do anything more than he has to, but he has to learn to be a racehorse because he doesn’t run away from the other horses.

“He gets beside them and stays there, it’s heart in the mouth stuff.

“I think he is still six months away (from his best), but he keeps winning, which is a bonus and I think he has the makings of something special.”

Depending on Saturday’s performance, Sharp ‘N’ Sound could be back on the final day of the Melbourne Cup Carnival taking on Anamoe (Street Boss) in the Gr.1 Champions Stakes (2000m).

But Rogerson is also looking further afield with the All-Star Mile (1600m) next year a possibility and then later in the year the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups.

Rogerson said Sharp ‘N’ Smart reminds him of 1985 Melbourne Cup winner What A Nuisance (NZ) (St Puckle).

“He’s a plain looking horse, but he’s got plenty of scope,” Rogerson said.

“I do think he is a Caulfield and Melbourne Cup horse next year.

“I was thinking the Cox Plate (this year), but he would have been taking on Anamoe and he got beaten as a three-year-old last year.

“But I do think he’s up there with the best of them.”

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