Te Akau's Saturday Aussie Raiders

Raceform's Richard Edmunds reports:

Three-year-olds set for Australian debuts - Brando and Kahma Lass travelled over to Australia nicely and are in good shape heading into this weekend

Probabeel provided a perfect start to Jamie Richards' assault on autumn racing in Australia last weekend, and on Saturday the spotlight will shift to a pair of Group One-performed three-year-olds.

One of only two runners across Australasia last Saturday for the champion Matamata trainer, Probabeel overcame a wide gate and 60-kilogram topweight to score an arrogant first-up victory in the Gr. 3 Geoffrey Bellmaine Stakes at Caulfield.

Raced by Cambridge Stud owners Brendan and Jo Lindsay, the multiple Group One winner is now being set for the Gr. 1 Futurity Stakes on February 20 and the A$5 million All-Star Mile on March 13. By Tuesday afternoon, she had moved up to fifth place in public voting for the All-Star Mile with 5612 votes to her name.

“She really stepped up to the mark there (on Saturday), and it is very exciting for the whole team,” Richards said.

“She has got a brilliant turn of foot. She was unlucky not to win first-up last preparation in Sydney over 1200 metres and then she came out and won the Bill Ritchie and obviously progressed to win the Epsom.

“I think the Futurity is a nice race for her. It will be two weeks into the Futurity and three weeks into the All-Star Mile, which is what we did with Melody Belle last year.”

In the meantime, attention shifts to Brando and Kahma Lass, who will begin Group One campaigns of their own this weekend in Melbourne and Sydney respectively.

Brando, who was a $500,000 purchase by David Ellis at the 2019 Ready to Run Sale, has had three wins and two second placings from his five starts to date.

After chasing home the subsequent stakes performer Tinker McPhee on debut, the Savabeel colt won three races in a row including a smart performance in the Listed Uncle Remus Stakes at Ellerslie on Boxing Day.

His most recent run came in the Gr. 1 Levin Classic at Trentham on January 16, where he was knocked off balance rounding the home turn but recovered to finish strongly into second behind Bonham.

Brando will make his Australian debut in Saturday's A$160,000 Gr. 3 CS Hayes Stakes at Flemington - the race in which last season's star Kiwi three-year-old Catalyst fought out a desperate battle to the finish with boom Australian runner Alligator Blood.

Kahma Lass, meanwhile, will line up in the A$200,000 Gr. 2 Light Fingers Stakes at Randwick. The daughter of Darci Brahma has had four starts for two wins and two placings, including a last-start victory in the Gr. 1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas at Riccarton. Like Probabeel, she races in the black and yellow chequers of the Lindsays.

“Both Brando and Kahma Lass travelled over to Australia nicely and are in good shape heading into this weekend,” Richards said.

“We gave Brando a bit of a freshen-up after the Levin Classic. He'll have the blinkers on this weekend and drops back to 1400 metres, which should suit him very nicely at this stage of his preparation. He did a good piece of work at Flemington this (Tuesday) morning.

“Kahma Lass has also been coming along nicely, and she galloped well on the Kensington track at Randwick this morning too. The team over there have been very happy with her.

“Kerrin McEvoy came to ride Kahma Lass, and Jye McNeil did the same for Brando. They'll be in the saddle for the races on Saturday as well, and we're expecting both horses to go well in their first Australian starts this weekend.”

Brando is building towards the A$1 million Gr. 1 Australian Guineas at Flemington, while Kahma Lass will try to follow in the footsteps of Probabeel, who won last year's A$500,000 Gr. 1 Surround Stakes at Randwick. Both of those Group One three-year-old features will be run on February 27.

“We sent Brando over there with the Australian Guineas in mind, so as long as everything goes well on Saturday, that's where he'll be heading,” Richards said.

“Kahma Lass will hopefully go from the Light Fingers into the Surround Stakes. For both horses, we'll get through those first two assignments before thinking about what else we might do with them.”