Racing: Foxbridge may signal start of new campaign for Xcellent

Weight-for-age star Xcellent - weather permitting - may race in the $35,000 Westbury Stud Foxbridge Plate at Te Rapa next Saturday.

Co-trainer Andrew Scott could not hide his delight when it came to discussing returning to work as a professional horse trainer with Mike Moroney at Matamata and also inspecting the fitness and physique of Xcellent.

"He's carrying about 50 kilograms more than he weighed when winning the New Zealand Derby on Boxing Day.

"And a lot of that is strength, muscle and maturity," said Scott.

"He is still not a fully matured racehorse but I like the look of what I see as he has muscled up a lot, which he has needed to do.

"It doesn't take a lot of hard work to get him ready to race and he will start in the Foxbridge Plate if we are happy with the footing at Te Rapa.

"He doesn't need a barrier trial or anything to get him ready to race as he is quite a naturally athletic racehorse. We haven't any concrete plans, we are just going to be taking everything race by race with him this season.

"We do have a number of options available to us concerning what we want to do with him.

"He could go back to Australia and race or we could just race him here but we're not in a rush to do anything right now.

"The track conditions here in New Zealand will dictate what we're going to do but I'm really impressed with how he has trained this week at Matamata and he's coming to hand very nicely."


- HERALD ON SUNDAY