Boxing Day Contenders Impress in Exhibition

The Informant reports:

Group One galloper Sword Of Osman is set to clash with older sprinters on Boxing Day following a bold exhibition gallop at Ellerslie on Sunday afternoon.

Last season's (Group 1) Sistema Stakes' winner, who hasn't raced since his seventh in the New Zealand 2000 Guineas early last month, worked in partnership with his Te Akau stablemate In A Twinkling. Both looked good, with Sword Of Osman pulling ahead of his companion in the last 100 metres.

“I'm really happy with how they both went,” trainer Jamie Richards told www.theinformant.co.nz. “They looked great and did what we wanted them to do.

“At this stage, Sword Of Osman will line up in the Newmarket Handicap on Boxing Day. In A Twinkling will most likely run in the Uncle Remus.”

The Uncle Remus Stakes, elevated to Listed level this year, is a three-year-old race over 1400 metres. It has been won by Te Akau's Group One stars Age Of Fire, Hall Of Fame and Xtravagant in the last three years. In A Twinkling was a fast-finishing fourth in the 2000 Guineas last time out.