Bold Thruster spanks them

If the second trial run yesterday morning was a race, you would have wanted to hold a ticket with the name Bold Thruster on it.

Such was his dominance.

Running in a "test" and against some nifty three-year-olds, Bold Thruster - the only two-year-old in the line-up - gave his more matured rivals a spanking.

Not just that. He won with such authority that the winning margin was 11½ lengths.

And the time he returned for the 1,000m was a brilliant 59.29sec.

Here's how it all panned out.

Jumping cleanly from the middle of the pack, John Powell soon had Bold Thruster in front and drawing away.

If the others thought he would come back at them, they were mistaken.

Clearing the 600m and heading for home, Bold Thruster was four lengths in front of Allied Power, the mount of Craig Grylls, and Our Pinnacle (Daniel Moor).

Straightening, and the two-year-old started to draw further ahead. Five, six, seven lengths.

Grylls and Moor were chasing a lost cause. Indeed, they had distanced themselves so far from Bold Thruster that one wondered if they were afraid of catching something contagious from Powell.

A hundred metres out and Bold Thruster was cruising.

PRECOCIOUS YOUNGSTER

So, who is this precocious youngster who, barely on the cusp of adolescence, possesses such fine racing qualities?

Well, we know him from that one race start on June 3 when, racing in the Magic Millions Yearling Sales, he ran fifth behind Pennywise.

If that was part of his education, he surely learnt a lot in the last month.

So, the question. Will his trainer Shane Baertschiger start him in next Friday's Aushorse Golden Horseshoe?

I say, why not? He has improved a ton and is up to the task.

But Baertschiger is an astute trainer of horses and he will know what's best for this Tivic Stable-owned youngster.

Still, let's hope he's in the line-up. A time of 59.29sec - easing up - isn't something to be sniffed at.

Also impressive at the trials was Eagle Eye.

Trained by Ricardo Le Grange and having a blinkers test, the three-year-old came from off the pace to mow down Kirks Ryker and Drone in Trial 1.

Barend Vorster was on the reins and Eagle Eye clocked 60.50sec for the 1,000m.

In that same hit-out, Nimitz, who ran fourth and was having a 1,000m vet test, was doing his best work at the finish.

Already a two-time winner, he is far from the finished product and bears watching when he next goes to the races.