Bendigo trainer Brendon Hearps hopes history will repeat itself when his gelding Zoutons makes his debut at Friday's Bendigo Jockey Club meeting.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
In February, 2010, Zoutons' mother Umgeton won on debut at Bendigo for the Hearps stable and then went on to win three city races and earn connections more than $200,000 in stakemoney.
Umgeton was a speed machine who thrived over 1000m-1100m and, while Zoutons looks set to be better suited over 1400m-1600m, Hearps expects the three-year-old to perform well on debut over 1100m.
"He's a beautiful moving horse,'' Hearps said of Zoutons.
"Looking at him you'd think he's been to the races 10 or 12 times. He's such a relaxed horse.
"He's been to the jump outs here at Bendigo and at Kerang and he just cruises around. He's won a couple of jump outs, but you never know how strong the form is.
"You can do anything with him. He can sit on the pace or sit in behind them.
"The proof will be in the pudding on Friday, but I think he's going to be a nice horse."
Win, lose or draw on friday, Hearps said he's likely to give Zoutons a spell over spring.
"I reckon it's going to be a beautiful spring and I reckon six to eight weeks of the spring sun on his back will just make the horse,'' Hearps said.
"We'll probably just give him the one run and then bring him back for the summer.
"You mightn't see the best of him on Friday, but I'm confident he'll make the grade in time."
Hearps and connections of Umgeton have sold a couple of her offspring, but kept Zoutons and have also retained her latest yearling - a filly by Group One-winning colt Rich Enuff.
"The Rich Enuff yearling filly is out of Umgeton and she looks like a nice horse, but like her mother she's a bit mad,'' Heaprs said with a chuckle.
"That might be a good sign though. I reckon the better mares need to be a bit mad to run."
Hearps has spring plans for his consistent galloper Vungers.
The seven-year-old had a jumpout at Bendigo this week and is likely to resume from a spell on his home track early next month.
Hearps would love to qualify Vungers for the lucrative $500,000 Melbourne Cup Carnival Country Final (1600m) at Flemington on Oaks Day.
The series is for country-trained horses and to qualify for the final you need to run first or second in one of seven heats run across the state. One of the heats is run on Bendigo Cup day.
Vungers has raced 27 times for four wins, 10 seconds and five thirds.
In six runs last campaign he didn't miss a place once, including a gutsy win at Moonee Valley over 1600m.
Have you signed up to the Bendigo Advertiser's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in central Victoria.
