Star Adelaide colt Dalasan kicks off his All-Star Mile campaign
Star Adelaide colt Dalasan begins a campaign where he’ll be pitted against some of the best three-year-olds seen for years, but trainer Leon MacDonald remains upbeat about his prospects.
Respected Adelaide trainer Leon MacDonald is expecting his star three-year-old colt Dalasan to hit the ground running at Caulfield on Saturday as he begins a Melbourne campaign which he hopes culminates with a start in the All-Star Mile.
“He’s ready to go. He goes well fresh and I think he’s going to be very hard to beat,” MacDonald said.
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On Saturday, the Leon MacDonald and Andrew Gluyas colt clashes with Caulfield Guineas winner Super Seth in the Group 3 Manfred Stakes (1200m).
In the runs to come, in addition to Super Seth, he’ll be up against Queensland star Alligator Blood and rising Kiwi champion Catalyst.
That quartet will clash in the C.S Hayes Stakes, the Australian Guineas and possibly the All-Star Mile.
“He’s going to be running into some very good three-year-olds in the weeks to come but I think he’ll acquit himself well. He’s got the right form. He’s a very genuine horse.”
MacDonald said he only had to look back to last spring to know that Dalasan could handle that quality of opposition.
In the Caulfield Guineas Prelude, Dalasan finished second to Alligator Blood and MacDonald said he should have beaten him. Super Seth finished sixth in that race.
In the Caulfield Guineas, Dalasan had a torrid run and finished fifth behind Super Seth but MacDonald said Alligator Blood was the horse that should have won that.
Dalasan then went and won the Carbine Club Stakes which took his record to five wins and two seconds from eight starts.
Craig Williams will ride Dalasan on Saturday and MacDonald said it was a run by run booking
MacDonald said he would like Dalasan to run in the All-Star Mile but he needed to get into the field. On Wednesday Dalasan was 14th in the voting.
“It would be nice to get in. I’m surprised he’s not higher up in the voting but once he back running I think people will warm to him. Hopefully South Australians will get behind him.”
The other South Australian three-year-old being set for the same races is Free Of Debt and he also resumes in the Manfred Stakes. He was 11th in the voting on Wednesday.
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Originally published as Star Adelaide colt Dalasan kicks off his All-Star Mile campaign
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