Andrew Forsman is hopeful a drop back in distance will produce the best of Aegon when the talented galloper contests the Group 1 Thorndon Mile (1600m) at Trentham on Saturday.
The well-travelled son of Sacred Falls has celebrated some of his greatest career highs over the 1600m distance, beginning as a three-year-old when winning the Group 1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas before claiming the Karaka Million 3YO Classic, alongside a trip to Hong Kong finishing 5th in the Group 1 Hong Kong Mile behind global star Golden Sixty last year.
Forsman, who part-owns the $1.88 million earner with the Zame Partnership, took a throw at the stumps in testing Aegon over 2050m in the Group 1 Zabeel Classic on Boxing Day, though a steady tempo saw his strong racing pattern unsuited to the middle-distance feature.
“Things just didn’t work out for him over the 2000m,” Forsman said.
“I think if he’s ever going to go that trip everything has to go perfectly for him, and I don’t think we want to be risking that, so we’ve kept him fresh to go back to the mile, hopefully it all works out.”
Returning to the venue where he finished an eye-catching fourth in the Group 1 TAB Classic (1600m) last month, Aegon will be among the main dangers in a competitive affair which includes fellow elite-level victors Campionessa and No Compromise.
The former currently sits atop of the Futures market with top horse racing bookmakers at +300 ahead of Habana at +350, Aegon a joint-third fancy at +700 with Puntura.
Forsman, while confident in the six-year-old’s ability at the shorter trip, is wary of the step-back in distance on Saturday.
“He always seems to race better on the fresh side, but it’s hard to know how he’ll perform over the mile having dropped back from 2000m,” he said.
“But he’s been great since (the Zabeel Classic), I can’t really fault him.”