The lightly raced colt Under Focus delivered a victory on Randwick’s Kensington track, going one place better than his debut second, which has opened discussions for a Kindergarten Stakes appearance.
Acquired by Yulong for $300,000 at the Easter yearling sale, the colt is by Too Darn Hot out of an unraced full sister to Group placegetter Condor; trainer Kris Lees is interested in elevating him to superior fields thanks to the strong bloodlines.
Aiming at the Group 3 Kindergarten Stakes (1100m) at Randwick on April 4, Lees will assess based on the horse’s recovery from Wednesday’s 2026 Keeneland Breeders’ Cup Handicap (1100m) score.
“I’d say we’d have to look at it. It’s a week-and-a-half away,” Lees said.
“We’ll see how he pulls up and speak to the Yulong team, but they’ve got a really nice horse going forward.”
Unlucky from the outset, Under Focus covered extra ground wide in three and four before Tyler Schiller took him forward to race out wide of the leader.
Drawing level in the straight, he accelerated past and kept Drumfire at bay by 1-1/2 lengths, Peyton two lengths back in third spot.
“He had to do a little bit of work early, so I thought there was some merit to the win,” Lees said.
“Pre-race it looked a nice race with a bit of trial form and some exposed racehorses. He’s done it both ends so it was a good effort.”
Reachin’ Out, from the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott yard, captured the two-year-old fillies’ race by leading and extending to win by four lengths from the Lees filly She’s Extra.
Regan Bayliss, aboard the winner on debut, was wowed by her run.
“Whatever she was going to do today she was going to improve on in leaps and bounds, so that’s why it was such an impressive win,” Bayliss said.
“She really let go today and never let anything get near her.”
No confirmation from Waterhouse or Bott on the scene about intentions, but Reachin’ Out is in the entries for the Group 2 Percy Sykes Stakes (1200m) at Randwick on April 11.
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