Isaurian leads three-horse assault on Listed Darby Munro Stakes

The highly-promising colt Isaurian will attempt to reproduce the form of his first-up win and establish himself as Stakes class when he runs in the Listed Darby Munro Stakes at Rosehill on Saturday, 24 March.

The three-year-old, who is one of three Godolphin runners in the race, beat a field of older horses at Warwick Farm at his only start and comes up against a high-class group of his own age here.

“He’s has improved nicely from his first-up win at Warwick Farm when he defeated older horses in impressive style,” said trainer James Cummings.

“He’s a colt with a lot of sharpness about him and he demonstrated that with a nice piece of work at Osborne Park.

“This race looks a nice stepping stone for him, but it’s still going to be a stern test of how much potential is under the hood.”

Isaurian (Hugh Bowman) is joined in the Darby Munro by Manicure (Jason Collett), a filly whose last-start win was Cumming’s first as Godolphin’s Head Trainer in Australia and Beau Geste (Tye Angland).

Manicure hasn’t run since that victory last July in a bid to give her every chance to gain a valuable black-type win during her current preparation.

“She missed the entire spring so she’d be ready for the autumn,” Cummings said.

“She’ll enjoy having the sting out of the track and I was quite happy with how she trialled last week.”

The runners on the Golden Slipper undercard at Rosehill are completed by Fragonard who carrier her trainer’s confidence into the G3 Birthday Card Stakes.

“She’s ready to go on Saturday. She looks to have settled in nicely since coming back to Sydney after her Melbourne campaign.”