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Aegon pleases in Taupo trial; Nolen booked for Callsign Mav

Aegon pleases in Taupo trial

Aegon 's A$7.5 million Golden Eagle (1500m) tilt is back on track after he pleased when comfortably winning his 1225m trial at Taupo on Thursday.

Aegon travelled midfield for the majority of the journey until he was asked to accelerate up the inside in the home straight by jockey Craig Grylls and he ran away to a 3-1/4 length victory.

"It was obviously a pretty slowly run heat and he just sprinted, and the others went around for a bit of a hit-out, but it served a purpose for us, and it was nice to see him stretch out like that and pull up so well," said Andrew Forsman, who trains in partnership with Murray Baker.

Forsman, who part-owns the gelding, wasn't able to be trackside as a result of COVID-19 border restrictions, but he said he has received positive reports following the trial.

"I wasn't able to be there myself, but it all looked good and the feedback was good. He has had a good day out and it is exactly what he needed," he said.

Aegon's performance was a welcome sight after his campaign towards the Golden Eagle was nearly curtailed after his 11th placed run in the Gr.1 Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m) last month.

"He performed very poorly (in the Makybe Diva) and came back with blood in one nostril," Forsman said.

"They (vets) scoped him after the race and didn't class it as a pulmonary hemorrhage. The poor performance is a little bit hard to explain.

"In the next couple of days he seemed fine and we got him on the plane home and gave him a week or so in the paddock and got him back into work.

"Everything since he has been home has suggested that he is the same old horse."

With his satisfying hit-out on Thursday complete, Aegon is now set to fly to Sydney on Sunday-week ahead of the Golden Eagle at Rosehill on October 30.

Nolen booked for Callsign Mav

Jockey Luke Nolen has been confirmed to ride triple Group One winner Callsign Mav in next Saturday's Gr.1 Cox Plate (2040m).

"He's very excited, he's won a Cox Plate before on El Segundo, so (he's) looking forward to hopefully adding another one," Adrian Coyne, Nolen's manager, told Racing.com.

The John Bary-trained five-year-old touched down in Australia in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

The son of Atlante heads to Australia in good form, having won the first two legs of the Hawke's Bay Triple Crown – Gr.1 Tarzino Trophy (1400m) and Gr.1 Windsor Park Plate (1600m).

Callsign Mav will be based at Danny O'Brien's yard and will have multiple gallops of the Moonee Valley track before the big race.

"The Cox Plate's a really hard race to get a ride in, you've got to be riding those horses or have won on them to get a shot," Coyne said.

"He'll give it a gallop at Moonee Valley on Tuesday in the lead-up to Saturday's race."