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When you’re the brother to a star sprinter there’s always expectation and that’ll be the case when Hawaii Five Oh makes his debut at Wyong on Sunday.
Trainer Michael Freedman has been patient with the younger sibling to Libertini who, like his sister, has shown an aversion to genuine wet tracks so he's hoping the Agency Plate (1200m) is run on an improving surface.
The colt was set to kick off his career after a couple of trials in the late autumn but the relentless rain put paid to that.
"He's a very big horse that's just taken a bit of time to mature into his frame,'' Freedman said.
"He was ready to run through the winter but he's shown a real disliking for anything in the genuine wet range. You could tell in his trackwork and trials that he wasn't nearly as comfortable in genuine soft ground as he is on top of the ground.
"It was pointless hanging around waiting for a dry track and we sent him out for another month."
Hawaii Five Oh, $1.65 with TAB on Saturday, showed his readiness for a race day test with an impressive trial win at Rosehill on August 12 where jockey Nash Rawiller, who heads to Wyong for just the one ride, just allowed him to win under his own steam.
"I think he is a really nice horse in the making,'' Freedman said.
"There are a couple in there that have race experience and that plays an important part but from barrier one I'd be leaving it to Nash to find a nice spot.
"If he can run up to how he has been trialling he should run well."
The three-year-old holds plenty of aggressive spring carnival nominations but Freedman said that shouldn't be read into too much at this stage of proceedings.
He sits in the market at $101 for the Group 1 $1m Golden Rose (1400m) on September 24.
"We've kept him in the mix for some of those races,'' he said.
"Even if he showed that kind of ability it is probably going to come around a bit soon for him but we will learn more on the weekend."
Meanwhile, Freedman hasn't given up on star mare Forbidden Love's spring preparation after her unplaced performance in the Group 1 Winx Stakes last weekend.
He's sent her for a freshen up and change of routine at his Hawkesbury stables and plans to trial her in the second half of September before determining whether to continue her campaign towards a race like the $2 million The Invitation.
"It's a headscratcher. I can't fault her physically, her work going into last Saturday was as good as she's ever worked,'' he said.
"It could be she's not as good in the spring as she is in the autumn. She'll spend three weeks at Hawkesbury and come back and have a trial around the end of September."
Each of Forbidden Love's three Group 1 wins have come in the autumn and Freedman suspects that might be the factor rather than the view that she needs a heavy track (she's won five races from eight starts on heavy) to produce her best.
"I know a lot of people say that but I've seen her perform well on good 3s so I don't really subscribe to that,'' he said.
"Certainly her form suggests she is superior on a wet track but I don't think it is a case of her needing a wet track."
