Major Group 1 plans for Western Sonador

There’s major Group 1 plans afoot for Western Sonador and Rebecca Bartley’s little star proved he’s right on track to land a blow at the elite level with victory in Saturday night’s TAB Minuteman Free For All (2100m) at Geelong.

Bartley, who trains in partnership with Stephen O’Donohue, produced a cool front-running drive with the maturing five-year-old and he showed his best to take out the $24,000 feature.

The $100,000 VHRC Caduceus Classic at Bendigo next weekend shapes as the first key feature of the preparation for the son of Western Terror, who is being lined up for a number of other major races in coming weeks and months.

“Of course, the Victoria Cup and the Kilmore Cup before that, but we’ll probably head to Sydney with the Inters at the end of the year,” Bartley said.

“Hopefully they go ahead and I think he’ll handle the series really well.”

Western Sonador controlled Saturday night’s race from the front and zipped home in a 27.9 last quarter to hold off a wall of rivals, headed by Aaron Dunn’s Silent Major and Wolf Stride, who performed well first-up for new trainer Andy Gath.

Bartley said her horse’s manners had improved significantly from previous campaigns.

“He’s settled down a lot in the stabling area now. We always knew if he settled down, he’d take the next step,” she said.

“The horse he was in Sydney (during February and March), he was just completely opposite. He had a break, it’s done him the world of good and he’s really settled down now. He’s just lovely to be around.”

By Tim O’Connor for HRV