Araldo Junior Relishes Staying Trip

Having shown staying promise in his native Germany, it was no surprise to see Araldo Junior relishing the 2500m of Saturday's Young Members Ball Handicap at Flemington.

Stepping up to the trip on the back of consistent form this time in, the imported five-year-old went straight to the front for in-form apprentice Jake Bayliss and there he stayed, increasing his lead as he kicked strongly to the

line.

Saluting by an impressive 3 3/4 lengths with plenty in hand, Araldo Junior recorded his second victory for the stable having also been bold on pace when taking out last spring's Benalla Cup.

"I just let him roll along and we were not going all that quickly," Bayliss reported, noting that he was confident throughout the race.

"I just gave him a squeeze in the straight and away he went - he put them away like a good stayer."

On pace is the pace to be for Araldo Junior said Bayliss; "put him in the first three and he will run all day!"

Excited by the dominance of the performance, Michael Moroney described Araldo Junior as "a very promising stayer" whilst managing part owner Rupert Legh confirmed that the stable have always had "a good opinion of him.

"Hopefully there is a bit of karma to his name," Legh said, alluding to Araldo Junior's half-brother Araldo who we tragically lost in the aftermath to the 2014 Melbourne Cup.

Legh has enjoyed good success with imported gallopers and has noticed that they tend to be at the best once acclimatized after "12 or 18 months."

"It just takes them a while to get used to our firmer tracks," he said.

It has been a great run for the stable of late and we are hoping that continues into the week with a number of nice types contesting races in Victoria and New South Wales.

Two of those - Space and Rising Stock - head to Sandown on Wednesday and the former looks nicely placed in the Ladbrokes Odds Boost Handicap having tackled Listed company at his most recent outing.

"He comes back quite a bit in class," Moroney said, noting that the gelding's previous run at Morphettville was full of merit.

Rising Stock gets his chance for a metropolitan breakthrough in thebigscreencompany.com.au Plate having won in such tough style at Bendigo last time out.

"He is going to need a bit of luck from the draw (barrier 13) but the race is late in the day and that might be the place to be by then. He has trained on really well."

We also have Fortune Patch racing on Wednesday, the lightly raced four-year-old lining up in the Pro-Ride Handicap at Canterbury.

"He has drawn badly (19) but he is down in grade and his form around Bullrush reads well."

Thursday is another busy day for Ballymore, the first of our three runners at Ballarat being Surface To Air who is looking to break his maiden over 1600m.

Solid when sixth at his Geelong debut over 1400m, the son of Sir Percy strikes heavy going but we are interested to see how he handles it.

"We will take our chance and see," Moroney said, adding that the chestnut is "a really nice stayer in the making."

Later in the day we have Strike Force looking for a change of luck having had little of it when contesting a 1411m event at Sale last time out.

"He was shuffled back mid-field along the rails and didn't see much fresh air in the run home," said Moroney who is expecting a much improved showing from the promising son of Lookin At Lucky.

Lord Barrington meanwhile comes off a tough last start win at Sandown and should "again prove hard to beat" meeting a similar field.

"He has been going really well this preparation and whilst he has drawn out wide he comes in well with Ethan Brown's claim."

Photo by Darryl Sherer.