Blinkers an unknown for Aegon

[Wandering Eyes]

Andrew Forsman was hoping to snare a better barrier for his galloper Aegon in the HK$20 million Gr.1 FWD Champions Mile (1600m) at Sha Tin on Sunday, but the Kiwi is fatalistic ahead of Sunday’s feature at Sha Tin on 30 April.

The Cambridge horseman believes there is no point worrying about things you can’t control and, on reflection, concedes drawing barrier five in the eight-horse field could have been worse.

“At the end of the day he is probably going to settle back any way, but it would have been nice to have drawn a little bit softer,” he said. “It’s a smaller field and he shouldn’t be too far off them.

“If he is close enough, hopefully he is good enough to be in it.”

Forsman said he hoped that applying the blinkers for the first time on the Group One winner would reap some benefits but admitted he was a little worried how it would affect the horse coming out of the barriers.

Trainer Andrew Forsman. Photo: Hong Kong Jockey Club

“He has never been good and can scramble out of the gates a little bit,” he said. “But I think the blinkers will help him travel up into the race when he hits a bit of flat spot. We haven’t done much work with him this week.”

Aegon, winner of the Gr.1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m) and also a Group Two winner in Sydney and Group Three winner in Melbourne, had a solid hit-out on the Sha Tin turf last Saturday (22 April) and again galloped on the grass on Thursday.

Forsman said Aegon is well travelled and has had a lot of flights and there was no surprise the five-year-old son of Sacred Falls had settled in well to his temporary home at Sha Tin.

“We are hoping that a small field will help him on Sunday,” he said.

View the full article