Marshall & ‘Mac’ looking to upset Merlin in Sires Stakes heat

North Island harness racing heads to Cambridge tomorrow night (Sep. 29) with an action-packed 10-race card to go with a non-tote two-year-old trot.

Race six sees a cracking field of nine juveniles for the first North Island heat of the Woodlands Stud Sires Stakes Series for colts and geldings.

The unbeaten Merlin (Art Major) headlines a quality bunch of pacers all looking to book their ticket south for the prestigious final to be held on Cup Day at Addington.

The Barry Burdon and Scott Phelan trained Merlin has shown an incredible desire to win in each of his five starts this year, finding a way to get the job done when a lot of times the opposition have stacked everything against him.

This week he has barrier eight to contend with and despite having shown some good gate speed in the past, so too have some of the runners drawn inside him and one of those looking to take advantage of their barrier will be the Kyle Marshall trained, Son Of Mac (American Ideal).

He is the first foal from former Open Class mare, Lusty Mac (McArdle), who was the winner of nice races including two at Listed level winning the Magness Benrow Northern Mares classic in consecutive years.

Marshall had seen a lot of the Mike Berger trained Lusty Mac being based at the Cambridge Raceway where she was educated throughout her career. When he heard about how well her first foal was progressing in its yearling sales preparation for the Leanach Lodge draft, he knew he had to inspect him.

“I have a close relationship with the McKays who prepared the horse, and they just told me what a lovely horse he was to prepare. I looked at him at the sales and he caught my eye, the breed caught my eye, and they just assured me he was a lovely horse,” said Marshall.

“He’s obviously well-bred being an American Ideal out of a great mare who won a lot of races despite encountering a lot of issues throughout her career. I saw a lot of her around at the Cambridge track, she was a lovely looking mare, but she could also be quite highly strung around the barn.

“I was taken with how different this guy was to his mother. His temperament was completely different and would just please you with whatever he did and seemed like a horse who would learn quick,” he said.

Marshall went to $60,000 to secure the colt which wasn’t cheap for an American Ideal colt with five dams on the page. As you can see in the photo however, Son Of Mac was a classy looking yearling and before long Marshall and his group of owners knew he was going to be worth every penny.

“We don’t really push them early, but he did have a lovely way of going and made easy work of anything he did. The closer we got to the races he just kept getting better. We didn’t rush him, he just came too it himself and as we know, he’s probably bred to be a better three-year-old so everything he’s doing at this stage is a bonus. He’s never been pushed and he’s doing it all well within himself at the moment,” he said.

Son Of Mac showed enough early development to warrant a look at the Young Guns series. His debut came in February with the first heat and two-year-old race of the year being run on Harness Millions Night.

It was a tough introduction to racing and few would have blamed Son Of Mac for throwing in the towel after sitting three wide for the entirety of the 1700m trip. Instead, he showed plenty of courage to be right there fighting out the finish with Merlin and Seve, who were to establish themselves as the North Island’s leading two-year-old males.

“It was a huge effort, and he is the sort of horse who can sit outside them and relax without taking much out of himself. It was a tough effort to be three wide and still finish fourth and not far off that class of horse,” said Marshall.

Son Of Mac had to be scratched from the second heat of the Young Guns after getting a virus and was on the back foot for the Group Two final in March, with Marshall admitting both he and his colt being better for the experience.

“He’s never stopped growing and he’s always getting better. He definitely benefitted from the break as we were chasing our tails heading into the Youn Guns final with him being crook and we had a gear change that in hindsight we probably shouldn’t have done. We pulled his hopples in a couple of holes where we should have let them out, and that’s probably just a lack of experience but he seems pretty bomb proof now,” he said.

After a good three-month spell, Son Of Mac resumed at Cambridge last month on the back of one workout where he was second after being last of seven runners turning for home. He was sent out an odds-on favourite in his race day resumption despite copping the outside of the second row, and after working hard outside the leader for the majority of the 2200m affair, was able to dig in and get his nose across the line for a narrow victory.

SON OF MAC REPLAY

“It was pretty impressive to come out and win fresh up the way he did. Looking back, I think the horses that he did beat have come out and won races as well, so it was a good effort,” he said.

Son Of Mac has since been to two workouts in preparation for his Sires Stakes campaign with the first being an impressive second behind Merlin at Pukekohe. Merlin has never been beaten in six race day starts, nor his five public trial and workouts, but Son Of Mac was probably a bit stiff not to have ended that streak albeit in a workout.

“I was really happy with the trial at Franklin, we didn’t get room until late and when I asked him, he really found another gear. I didn’t know he had that quick sharp turn of foot in him, just everything we ask of him he gives to us, and we are just rapt with him. If we had of been out earlier and swapped the runs with Merlin that day, I think he could have beaten him in the finish,” he said.

Merlin has since come out and won impressively in his two race starts this month, and Marshall is well aware that race day and workouts are two completely different beasts. He is however drawn much better than his unbeaten rival and Marshall may look to take advantage of barrier three tomorrow night.

“He does feel like he can run off the gate. In that trial I never gave him his head and he looked to come off the best until I sort of had to restrain him and really hold him back which is when we let the others past. He does feel like he has gate speed and drawn three I will have to make good use of that draw because Merlin is a classy horse and the way to beat him is probably to be in front of him,” he said.

Win, lose or draw, Son Of Mac and his large band of owners have really gotten in behind the young horseman and given him the sort of backing you need to be competitive in the thick of end of aspirational races such as the Sires Stakes series.

Included in the ownership is former New Zealand All White player and coach, Ricki Herbert.

“They are a really good bunch of owners and I’m rapt to get some good races for them to be around and enjoy.

“Ricki has been a real asset to the stable. He has come down and really helped me with the ownership side of things and communications and he loves it as a hobby to come down and muck in and drive the horses in work when his commitments allow. It’s not going to change his life, but he loves coming down to the barn in the mornings to be around the team.

“He’s really helped me to be more of a professional in my business and we are getting great feedback on the communication with owners and its paying dividends with the quality of horses we are starting to get through the barn more so than quantity,” he said.

Herbert takes the reins behind one of Marshall’s two other charges at Cambridge tomorrow night where he gets on board Tennesse Honey (Rock N Roll Heaven) in the Amateur Drivers race in the second.

Herbert is still searching for his elusive first win in the amateur ranks from 18 attempts and Marshall is hoping a change in regime might bring about a change of fortunes for Herbert and his mare.

“My old man bred her and filled her into a syndicate before her race career and has had a bit of fun with her. She’s lost form at the moment but we’ve just completely changed her training for this week and leaving her on the fresh side to see how that works out. She’s had a bit of racing and might need a break, but we will just see how she goes this week before making any decisions,” he said.

Rounding out the Marshall runners is Whooshka (Sportswriter) in race eight. The daughter of Sportswriter had been living up to her name since resuming this campaign. She was unbeaten in her first two runs back on her home track before running a solid third after being parked out the trip alongside some smart ones.

“It was a tough effort sitting parked and a mare sitting parked and finishing third to those ones. It bodes as good form with Nicholas Cage going 2:39 at Auckland a week ago and just going down and then Makara who ran second has come out and won since as well. It was a good form race and six months off has just helped her develop into the horse she is now. It’s just a matter of finding the right races for her now,” said Marshall.

“The owners and breeders of Whooshka, Stan Dunlop and Grant Stone, had Smokin Shazza with me and they sent Whooshka to me, so I have had her her whole life pretty much.

“I’ve just broken in her full brother and he’s a lovely wee colt. He’s just gone out for a month off and will come back in, but I think he will make a nice two-year-old next year and I’m just putting a syndicate together now to put the mother in foal to Bettor’s Delight so that’s going to be exciting,” he said.

For complete race fields, click here.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink