Castle Road gave trainer Paul Jordan optimism at Monday’s Belmont trials, believing the Safeguard three-year-old showed noticeable improvement from his maiden campaign.
Back in official action for the first time since the Karrakatta Plate (1200m) in April, Castle Road shot straight to the front and held that position throughout in a strong 1000m heat win.
Moving fluently under Craig Staples, Jordan was encouraged by Castle Road’s effort, noting the work done behind the scenes in teaching the gelding to settle better appears to be working.
Castle Road’s brilliant gate speed has been his greatest asset, but it has also proven to be his undoing and a weapon against him when he doesn’t relax in his races.
Castle Road entered the Karrakatta Plate high on expectations, riding a wave of momentum after his blistering all the way win in the Listed Perth Stakes, but he couldn’t sustain the pressure in front and faded to a disappointing 14th
Jordan was upbeat about Castle Road’s trial hit out and says it’s a step in the right direction, believing his education behind the scenes will reap dividends.
“He pulled very hard in the Karrakatta and then didn’t finish the race off,” Jordan said on Tabradio.
“We’ve been trying to get him to settle as much as we can and I think yesterday (Monday) he wasn’t charging or reefing.
“Hopefully we’ve got him into some sort of control and hopefully he’ll be able to show how much ability he has.
“He’s quite a big horse and growing into the frame that he’s got.”
Castle Road is poised to kick off his winter campaign this Saturday at Belmont with Jordan hoping he can replicate his trial improvement to race-day performance.
“I thought we could go to the races over the winter and see what we could do with him,” Jordan said.
“There’s unlimited races for him being a young horse.”
Jordan has nominated Castle Road for a 3YO 1000m race on Saturday.
He has drawn barrier six and has been allocated 61kg.
Castle Road has three wins from six starts and has banked a tick over $300,000 in prizemoney.
He wasn’t the only member of Jordan’s team to shine at the trials with El Alamein, Urquhart’s Bluff and Happy As Larry impressing.
El Alamein, a son of Rommel, turned heads racing wide on a hot tempo, yet pulled clear under minimal pressure to score by five lengths untouched.
“He gets under the radar at the stables,” Jordan said.
“He does everything you want him to, but he can let down.
“We’ll nominate for a maiden and go from there.
“He ended up being a bit lame after one of his earlier trials.
“We took x-rays but couldn’t really find anything significant.
“But he was lame enough to need time in the paddock.”
Jordan was also taken by the heat win of Urquhart’s Bluff.
The Sessions four-year-old won on debut and underwent minor surgery after his second start when unplaced at Ascot in March.
“He ended up having a chip in his hind fetlock removed," Jordan said.
“I thought he trialled terrifically, he seemed to learn so much from his first campaign.
“He jumped well, sat outside the leader and powered away from them.
“I know Sessions go well on wet tracks and it might be overkill, but I’m quite pleased with him, he’s a nice horse with a good pedigree.”
Julio Santarelli