A BUSY SATURDAY AT GEELONG

A busy day for us at Geelong with five runners for the big stand alone Saturday meeting headed by Bermadez in the $300,000 Coastal Classic.

The seven-year-old hasn’t won since May 2022 but has returned in good form this preparation, finishing second in both of his runs, firstly at Flemington on Melbourne Cup Day and then at Caulfield last time out and Mike Moroney is happy with the way Bermadez (pictured) has trained since.

“His last two runs have been really good,” Mike said. “I think we’ve got him right, he seems to be racing back to his best form now and his best form would see him pretty hard to beat in this, I would think.”

Japanese Emperor has had a freshen up and he runs in race over 1100 metres following feedback from Damien Oliver.

“Ollie hopped off him last start and I knew what his answer was going to be and that was, he doesn’t even get a mile,” Moroney said.

“We thought it was a lack of fitness in the Guineas because he went to win and he just got rundown the last bit, thinking it might have been a lack of match practice and fitness, but I don’t think it was, I think he’s more of a 1200 to 1400 metre horse.

“We’re experimenting to a degree with him, but we’re well aware that he’s got the ability and if we’re right about him, well, he could come out and win today.”

Mike has made a gear change for Toronto Terrier in his race today. The son of Toronado has been in great form this campaign with a win and three placings from his four starts, but his trainer believes that there’s further improvement still to come.

“He’s going to have the aid of blinkers back on,” Mike said.

“We tried them once as an early two-year-old, but I think it was a bit of a lack of maturity then but now I think he does need them on. He just wants to run away from horses and he’s still sort of field shy.

“We’re going to put the blinkers on, and I think they’ll really improve him.”

Peru makes his debut in race two, the Geelong Diamond. The Brazen Beau colt is related to our dual Zipping Classic winner Sound and has shown ability at home.

“He’s a really nice colt but he’s been a bit of a surprise because he’s out of Sound’s family, but then we looked up Sound and he actually won as a two-year-old strangely enough,” Mike said.

“It’s a world class family, he’s a really nice type of horse that’s shown us a lot. Whether he’s sharp enough for 1200m, I think he might be more of a Sires' Produce sort of horse.”

The day starts with Connecticut in the first race over 1700 metres.

“He won his maiden over this trip at Geelong and he’s fitter after two solid runs this preparation,” Mike said.

“He’s drawn nicely and the scratchings have helped. It looks a solid enough race with six last start winners engaged but our horse is fit and well and I expect him to run well.”