Aptly-named homebred Country Salon will be out to continue Gavin Sharrock’s golden run with his juveniles this season when he tackles Friday’s Listed John Turkington Forestry Castletown Stakes (1200m) at Otaki.
The two-year-old son of Darci Brahma holds great sentimental value to Sharrock, with the Taranaki horseman naming Country Salon and his dam after his daughter.
“My daughter and I raced (his dam) Uniquebotique together,” Sharrock said. “She has got a little hair salon on her farm called Unique Boutique and that’s how that mare got her name. She is out in the country, so I called him Country Salon.”
Country Salon has had three starts to date, running fifth on debut before winning at Trentham over 1200m on a Heavy10 track last month and was runner-up last start at Wanganui over the same distance.
Sharrock has been pleased with the progression of his gelding and believes he is capable of adding a maiden stakes victory to his record on Friday.
“I am really rapt with him,” Sharrock said. “We should have run first and second last start, but my other horse (Spandeedo) carted him off the corner.
“He has drawn reasonable (4). It is a winnable race, it is not that strong of a field.”
A spell beckons Country Salon after Friday’s assignment, with Sharrock already setting his sights on further black-type targets next season.
“After Saturday he will probably go for a break and then I will get him ready for the Wanganui Guineas (Listed, 1200m).”
He will likely be met in the Wanganui feature by stablemate Daylight Robbery, who has just returned to Sharrock’s barn from a spell after a pleasing juvenile campaign that netted a win and two placings from five starts, and he earned himself a place in the $1 million Karaka Millions 2YO (1200m) before running fourth in the Gr.3 Matamata Slipper (1200m).
Sharrock said there is very little between the pair, and meeting in the Wanganui Guineas may reveal the better horse.
“Daylight Robbery came in on the 8th of May, he had two months off, and he will be getting ready for the Wanganui Guineas as well,” Sharrock said. “If he goes well there, we might head to Christchurch with him (for the Gr.1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas, 1600m).
“I would rate Daylight Robbery in the top seven two-year-olds in the country at the moment. I haven’t tested Country Salon yet. He has won really well on a $40,000 Saturday against winners, he is a very smart galloper and he is nicely put together.
“Until they meet, I don’t know which one is the better of the two.”
Sharrock also has plenty of time for fellow juvenile Spandeedo, who has won one and placed in two of his three starts to date, with a tilt at next month’s Listed Ryder Stakes (1200m) at Otaki in the balance.
“Spandeedo will go to Hawera on the 12th (of July), and he might have a go at the Ryder if he happened to win there,” Sharrock said.
Back at Otaki on Friday, Sharrock will also line-up three-year-old gelding Vibration in the Foxton New World Handicap (1200m).
“He has his little quirks but is a very capable horse,” Sharrock said. “On his last start I would expect him to go a really good race.”
Meanwhile, Sharrock was pleased to see Soldier Boy back to winning form at Te Rapa last Saturday, and said stakes targets are now in the crosshairs for the five-win gelding.
“The old fella has been good to me,” Sharrock said. “A lot of people don’t realise, but I lost a lot of time with him last year. He had a really bad knock to his fetlock and he had puss coming out of the joint, and I was battling it the whole time. He was still running places, but he was never 100 percent. He went out for a good break and he has come back really good this time.
“He is having a freshen-up this week and he will more than likely have a tilt at the Opunake Cup (Listed, 1400m) and if he happened to go well there, we might take him down to Christchurch for the Winter Cup (Gr.3, 1600m).”