FRESH from an ultra-impressive Australian debut during the Mildura Pacing Cup Carnival, the Charlton-trained Aladdin will take aim at a rich feature across the border this weekend.
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A relatively new acquisition for Greg Norman and owners the Cormacks, the smart three-year-old will contest the $30,000 Group 3 South Australian Pacing Derby (2230m) at Globe Derby on Saturday night.
The son of Sweet Lou and Pacing Delight lived up to his considerable hype by demolishing a quality field in last Saturday night's $14,000 Mildura Guineas.
Driven by champion reinswoman Kerryn Manning, Aladdin dashed to a quick lead and was never headed, powering away to win by more than 12m ahead of Major Angel, with Stylish Joe a further 12m back in third.
Norman will have two derby runners, with Aladdin, who has drawn sweetly in gate two, being joined by Apieceoflou from gate four.
A brilliant first-up win by Aladdin has Norman confident of further success back during a rare trip back to South Australia.
"There's no doubt he has plenty of ability, he can stay and he's got high speed," she said.
"I guess there was a bit of pressure on him Saturday, or some hype around him, but he just went out and did the job.
"He'd only won a couple of races in New Zealand (three of 17), but you have to remember he was running against some quality horses - he won't be racing them sort of horses too often here.
"They're good races over there and good fields."
Manning, who will again take the drive in the derby, could not have been more impressed with Aladdin, who was smartly away from his outside draw and was quick to swoop on the lead.
"He's got a few little quirks, Greg (Norman) said he can do a few little things. Scoring up, he hit the gate and was carrying on, so he was going forward no matter what," she said.
"He's got a few little mannerisms that he's still got to learn, but he certainly had plenty of gate speed.
"It's not that easy to lead in a quality field from out there, but he came across nicely and settled really well.
"Every time something came up he'd pick up the bit and once he got rolling he was really good. He got around the track really good and handled that no worries.
"He seems a nice little horse and there's room for improvement too as he hasn't been here (in Australia) that long and they're still getting to know him."
Aladdin will be accompanied across the border by Apieceoflou, who finished second at Mildura behind My Superannuation in the Euston Club Pace Final.
Norman said there was no shame or disappointment in the gelding's narrow half a neck loss to the in-form Geoffrey Clout-trained pacer, who was able to turn the tables on Apieceoflou following his own similar margin loss in the heats.
"He did everything right, but just didn't win," he said.
"He ran a very good race, the leader was just too good for him with the run he had.
"I wasn't disappointed in the horse one bit, he still ran a very good race."
Norman, who relocated to Charlton from South Australia in mid-2019, has launched successful raids across the border in the past.
In December, he won the $50,000 Southern Cross Series Final for three-year-old fillies at Globe Derby with Belladonna Girl.
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