Deltason has endured a few hurdles in his early career, but trainer Meryl Hayley believes the talented gelding is primed to finish his two-year-old season on a high in Saturday’s Group 3 WA Sires Produce Stakes (1400m) at Ascot.
After being withdrawn late from the Perth Stakes (1100m) and narrowly missing a berth in the Karrakatta Plate (1200m), Deltason found his stride with a dominant maiden victory on April 30, extending over 1400m to win by more than three lengths.
Hayley said stepping up in distance has made all the difference for the son of I’m All The Talk.
“We were really looking forward to the 1400m,” Hayley said on Tabradio.
“Like everyone else we knew he would get the trip and it was good to get him across the line to be honest.
“We were just praying there were no more barrier disasters with the horse.
“He’s been to the races a couple of times and not managed to get around.
“Every time he goes in the gates and comes out of them, we’re happy.
“Obviously we earmarked the Karrakatta and Sires with him but we just dipped out not having that run in the Perth Stakes.
“We’ll never know and it’s upwards and onwards, we just had to change tack through the prep and take a different route, and we still made it.”
Despite drawing barrier seven of nine for the Sires, Hayley is confident in the horse’s ability to finish off strongly.
“He’ll obviously settle a couple of pairs back like he did last start and hopefully be hitting the line,” she said.
“He’s fit as a fiddle and it’s a matter of keeping him mentally happy.”
Rider Laqdar Ramoly, who has experience in this race, will again be in the saddle, and Hayley is optimistic about what lies ahead for the gelding in his three-year-old campaign, particularly with races like the WA Guineas (1600m) on the radar.
“Oh, absolutely,” Hayley said.
“Even Laqdar says the further the better.
“He’s such a quiet horse that settles really well.
“He’s never been flighty or over races.
“After Saturday he’ll go for a long break, and we’ll bring him back for some of the feature races as a three-year-old.”
Hayley believes that Just Too Fly and Fila Mia, both proven at stakes level, present the biggest danger to Deltason in Saturday’s field.
