A dominant last-start 2400m Listed Stakes victory at Caulfield in Melbourne has given wife and husband training partners Emma-Lee and David Browne confidence Statuario deserves to be favourite in Saturday’s (3 May) G1 South Australian Derby (2500m) at Morphettville in Adelaide, Australia.

With three wins, two seconds and one third from his 10 race starts, the three-year-old gelding won two consecutive races last year but scored the most significant victory of his career last start on 5 April with a two and a quarter length triumph.

He went forward early and was sitting fourth at the 800m and 400m marks before cruising to the lead to score easily. Before that, he had run third in a Group 2 over 2040m at Moonee Valley, beaten about two lengths.        

Drawn in barrier three, Emma-Lee Browne said they couldn’t be happier with their grey gelding and are excited about crossing the border from their base in Melbourne to tackle the AU$1 million (approx. HK$4.88 million) feature.

His latest victory ended thoughts that he might struggle to run out a strong 2400m.

“After he got the 2400m, we are hoping an extra 100m won’t matter,” Browne said. “I had my concerns going into the last start and it was definitely something playing on our mind but given he did it so well it just does give you a little bit more confidence.

“We are just hoping he gets a nice trip like he did last time. (Jockey) John (Allen) got him in the perfect spot last time and from our barrier it doesn’t look like he will have to work too hard and he should be able to get him into a nice position.”

Browne said if you wanted to “nitpick” Statuario’s Caulfield win, he did get all the favours in the running and it turned into a little bit of a sit and sprint which favoured him.

“But I just did love the way he sort of stretched away from them,” she said. “In some of is races he has tended to loaf around at the end a little bit, but he was a lot more focused.”

Statuario had a 1200m jump out at Pakenham on 22 April and was ridden by the Browne’s regular track rider, their daughter Lucy.

Browne said there were a lot of horses in the field they respected, including Politely Dun, who ran second to Statuario at Caulfield and James Cummings-trained Lavalier, who picked up plenty of admirers when finishing off strongly to be less than half a length from the highly-talented Athanatos in the G3 Chairman’s Stakes (2000m) at Morphettville last Saturday (26 April).

American Wolf, trained by Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young, stepped up from a 2000m maiden victory at Ballarat in country Victoria to win the Listed VRC St Leger (2800m) at Flemington on 25 April and is now on the short back-up.

Busuttin and Young also have another two runners in the race – Confetti Garden and Compressing.

Last year’s G1 Victoria Derby (2500m) winner Goldrush Guru has since failed to repeat that Flemington form and went to the front after over-racing in last week’s Chairman’s Stakes at Morphettville to finish fifth of 15, beaten about two and a half lengths.

He has drawn poorly in barrier 18 and has had no luck in his past two races.