Deadly Shadow has been included amongst a particularly talented list of nominations for Saturday’s Pin & Win Stakes (1400m) at Flemington, and trainer Bryce Heys is hopeful the colt can produce a competitive effort in the Listed race for three-year-olds.
Craig Williams will take the ride on Deadly Shadow in the 2015 Pin & Win Stakes. Photo: Adrienne Bicknell
Deadly Shadow debuted to racing in the Cable Beach Club Resort Maiden at Sandown on August 26th and while holding on to finish third in a sixteen horse field, disappointed Heys having over-raced for a good portion of the 1400m circuit.
Conceding the classy son of Savabeel will continue to improve as he gets up to and over a mile and 2000m this season, Heys told Racing Ahead he would like nothing more than to see jockey Craig Williams have the horse settle well in the early stages of the 2015 Pin & Win Stakes.
“There was a lot to like about the effort but not a lot to like about the execution in terms of the abomination of what it was,” Heys said.
“It was the furthest thing to what we wanted on our first day out at the races but we’ve done a lot of work with him at home post that run and there’s no doubting when he gets out to a mile and 2000m we really feel he’s going to be competitive.
“We almost near-on wrecked our preparation with that first-up run but it’s just a credit to the horse and his constitution.
“I really just want to see him ridden in a very conservative nature there on Saturday and if we can execute that through the first 300m of the race we’ll have no problem in terms of him relaxing through the mid-stages of the race.
“If we get that he’ll finish off the race very, very strongly because he’s a nice staying conveyance.
“When you see him in the yard on Saturday you’ll see how good he looks and his overall cover of condition. What he’s doing in the stable with his work is really exceptional.”
24 three-year-olds were included in nominations for the 2015 Pin & Win Stakes on Monday morning, and a capacity field is expected to be confirmed by midday, Wednesday.
