But if Willydoit does head to the Australian Derby at Randwick on April 5, it will be with the Clotworthys still training him.
“We have decided there is no point sending him to Ciaron and taking the risk he doesn’t settle straight away in since the Derby is so close,” says Clotworthy.
“So we will be training him for the Derby if he goes there, which at this stage I think he will.
“He came through this race really well so we will aim him at the Derby until he gives us a reason not to go.
“Then he will join Ciaron for next season.”
Clotworthy has opened up about the relaxed training regime that, along with a bold Mick Dee ride, helped turn a moderate Avondale Guineas performance into one of the most decisive NZ Derby wins this century.
“We thought he was a bit light after the Avondale Guineas, which was probably in part because he had a hard race the start before, so we didn’t do much with him,” explains Clotworthy.
“We worked three-quarter pace one day and another day we took him to the beach and he did some more three-quarter pace and then quickened up over his last 600m.
“That was all he needed since the Guineas and it is very satisfying that it worked. We are thrilled he got to show people how good he really is.
“There have been a lot of calls and texts in the last 24 hours so it has been a huge weekend.”
Willydoit has around 3300 owners with micro shares, but that doesn’t seem to dilute their enjoyment.
“I think it is a great thing for racing and while I don’t know most of the people in him, I know some,” says Clotworthy.
“There are people like Terry Skinner, a great guy who has worked at the races for years and now he has had a Derby winner and we are thrilled for him and all those other owners to have had that experience.”
Willydoit’s Derby demolition has seen him promoted to $5 equal favourite for the Australian Derby alongside Goldrush Guru, who won the Victoria Derby in November and was a last-start third in the Australian Guineas.
Dee has been offered the ride on Willydoit in the Sydney classic.
Willydoit won’t be the only three-year-old star from Saturday heading to Australia in coming weeks as King’s Plate winner Alabama Lass will fly to Melbourne for a A$500,000 listed race over 1100m down the Flemington straight on March 29.
“We have nominated her for the Arrowfield in Sydney too, but she is very unlikely to go there, just the one race at Flemington at this stage,” says co-trainer Ken Kelso.
But Kelso’s stable star Legarto won’t be going anywhere but the paddock after her third in the $600,000 Breeders Stakes won by Provence.
“Ryan [Elliot, jockey] said she wasn’t quite right and she had an elevated heart rate after the race but that was nothing serious,” says Kelso.
“After all, she still ran third, beaten less than a length in a Group 1 race.
“She has been in work a long time though and after trying really hard to win that race fresh up at Matamata, so I think she is tired and ready for a break.”
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.
