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No rust left for Surprise Baby; Classic Unicorn scores classy Valley victory; Strong start for Almanzor

No rust left for Surprise Baby

Trainer Paul Preusker said he has got all the rust out of Surprise Baby and will now head straight to the Gr.1 Melbourne Cup (3200m).

The six-year-old son of Shocking, a $9.50 chance for the race, has returned superbly this preparation and will be third-up into the Melbourne Cup.

Preusker is confident Surprise Baby is now ready to peak.

"He had a light stretch out (Wednesday) morning and I'm really, really happy. I think he is spot on for a Melbourne Cup," Preusker said.

"He will go straight to the cup. I think he is right.

"This year, it has been a little bit the opposite. We are just landing the plane rather than taking off and climbing to heights.

"There's a lot of residual fitness there and it's just a matter of drawing on it when we want it."

Surprise Baby returned with an eye-catching run in the Gr.2 Feehan Stakes (1600m) at The Valley and then backed it up with another strong performance in the Gr.1 Turnbull Stakes (2000m) last Saturday.

"I think the horse is doing an exceptional job. He is fit and ready to go," Preusker said.

"These (first two runs) are just getting the rust off him and piping him out a bit. He's probably doing a real good job in comparison to last year."

Surprise Baby was purchased as an unraced three-year-old for just $5500 from online auction platform gavelhouse.com, with owner John Fiteni sourcing him sight-unseen from Rich Hill Stud, breeders of memorable 2015 Melbourne Cup winner Prince of Penzance.

Classic Unicorn scores classy Valley victory

Classic Unicorn sealed a Chris So double with a smart win in Wednesday night's Happy Valley feature, the Class 2 High Island Handicap (1000m), justifying his trainer's belief that this could be the promising chestnut's 'coming-of-age' campaign.

After an unbeaten debut season, the five-year-old son of Per Incanto mixed his form last term but saw off a strong field of sprinters at Happy Valley to take his eye-catching record to four wins from eight starts.

"He's five years old now, he's calmer, he's mature, and he has more confidence," So said. "This year he has put on weight, because the last two years he was quite skinny but after the summertime, he's come back different."

Jockey Derek Leung fired the gelding out of gate 10 to skip along close to the speed and had to work for the lead before pouring on the pressure at the 550m mark. The speedster kicked on in the straight to score by one and three-quarter lengths ahead of the fast-finishing Gunnison and third-placed Multimillion.

"He's more relaxed, he still has the early speed but it's not crazy and that's why he can finish off – he's older now, mentally stronger and everything about him, he's just grown up," Leung said.

"Because he has so much early speed, if someone challenged him, he would fight back and not give up, that's why he used to use too much energy early. We went fast but he felt as if he had something left, I had confidence in him."

A New Zealand Bloodstock Ready To Run Sale graduate, Classic Unicorn arrived in Hong Kong from New Zealand, after winning a trial for trainer Karen Fursdon as a Private Purchase Griffin (unraced horse) and since then has risen 31 points in the ratings.

"I think both tracks are fine, it depends on his rating now, because Happy Valley has the bend, we think it does suit him more, but we'll discuss it with the owner," So said.

Strong start for Almanzor

Cambridge Stud stallion Almanzor has made a promising start at the Tatersalls October Yearling Sale.

Six of his yearlings sold for an aggregate of 750,000 Guineas in the first two days of the sale, at an average of 125,000 Guineas, and median of 125,000 Guineas.

SackvilleDonald Bloodstock Agency went to 210,000 Guineas to secure Almanzor's highest priced yearling of the sale so far, lot 336, the colt out of Nehalennia, a daughter of former Champion Two-Year-Old in England, Airwave.

Cambridge Stud was also active at the sale, purchasing lot 177, the Almanzor colt out of stakes winner Gemstone in partnership with Haras D'Etreham for 100,000 Guineas.

Almanzor stands at Cambridge Stud for a fee of $30,000+gst.