3 minute read

David Goldsbury is keen to test his promising three-year-old Notting Hill against the best of his age group.

The Waipukurau trainer produced the gelding for a stylish debut win last month at Trentham and he is planning a return to the capital city course on March 14 for the Gr.2 Hardy Trade Wellington Guineas.

“That’s where we’d like to head to and he’ll probably have a run in between times,” Goldsbury said.

“He’s needs another one somewhere to sharpen him up, but I haven’t sorted that out yet.”

Notting Hill, who has been the subject of overseas buying interest, had starred at his matinee outings before his race day debut, in which he bounced to the front and comfortably held his rivals at bay over 1400 metres.

“He won two trials – one by four lengths and the other by six,” Goldsbury said. “He shows good gate speed and he’s got a turn of foot in the straight as well.”

By Don Eduardo out of a half-sister to the Gr.1 Thorndon Mile winner Just Tommy, Notting Hill was a $17,000 purchase at Karaka in 2013.

“I saw him walking around at the sales and really liked him,” Goldsbury said. “We went back to the Ready to Run Sale, but we couldn’t sell him so we brought him home and gave him some time.

“His breeding suggested he was going to be an autumn three-year-old and that’s why we only trialled him in the spring without racing, he was still learning.”

Integral to Notting Hill’s education and development has been Goldsbury’s daughter Rebecca, who is apprenticed to her father after starting her riding career as an amateur jockey.

“She’s done all the work on him and rode him at trials, in track work and on race day,” he said. “That’s a big help to have that continuity and she knows him best.”