South Australian Derby could be next for American Wolf after VRC St Leger win
One giant leap could springboard to a Group 1 win for American Wolf after Friday's VRC St Leger at Flemington.
Co-trainer Natalie Young put next Saturday's Group 1 South Australian Derby on American Wolf's agenda after he outslugged Litzdeel in the Anzac Day feature.
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American Wolf won a maiden at Ballarat before stepping up sharply in class in the Listed VRC St Leger, answering Young and co-trainer Trent Busuttin's questions about the son of Tivaci seeing out the 2800m trip.
'Sometimes you just have to throw these horses into a bit of a deep end,' Young said.
'Third-up after 2800(m), sometimes you just have to have a crack at it.
'He had a beautiful run, he sat out the back third-last and relaxed beautifully.
'John Allen just rode him an absolute treat. He was tough late.'
Bookmakers promoted American Wolf to $15 in South Australian Derby betting after his VRC St Leger win.
Young said American Wolf would have every chance to prove to connections he could handle the eight-day back-up into the SA Derby.
'He's going on the right path and winning here at Flemington means he's going to be a three, four or $5 favourite and hopefully he can take the back-up,' Young said.
'If he pulls up well, eats up well and does all the usual things, they're only three once.
'You don't have to do much with them. He's run 28 (00m) today and he'll run 25 (00m) next week so you've just got to tick them over basically.
'He's on the up and he's still coming up to his peak.'
Earlier, Highvol lived up to trainer Nick Ryan's opinion of him with his debut win in the Listed Anzac Day Stakes.
Jamie Melham steered Highvol ($9) to a determined win over favoured runners Stay Cosmic ($4.40 equal favourite) and Just Kick ($5.50).
'From day dot, we've always had a big opinion of him,' Ryan's representative Damian Kefford said.
'Nick decided, 'look, we'll roll the dice here'. Nick always thought he'd be a 1400m-plus horse.
'It is a big task to come to Flemington for your first start over 1400m, but the raps that we had on him were warranted today.'
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