Andrew Forsman’s mare Positivity (NZ) (Almanzor) will look to make her presence felt on the middle day of the Caulfield Cup Carnival on Wednesday, taking on the feature Gr.3 Coongy Cup Handicap (2000m).
A placegetter in the Gr.1 New Zealand Oaks (2400m) at three, Positivity joined Forsman’s Flemington stable on a permanent basis last term and took on serious Victorian company, winning the Gr.3 Naturalism Stakes (2000m) before contesting the Gr.1 Melbourne Cup (3200m), where she finished back in the 23-horse field.
The daughter of Almanzor resumed in a competitive Gr.3 Sandown Stakes (1500m) last month and found the likes of Transatlantic and Evaporate too sharp, with that pair going on to finish one-two in the Gr.1 Toorak Handicap (1600m) over the weekend.
Up to her favoured middle-distance trip, Forsman is confident that she can be more prominent in the running, and hopefully, the finish.
“She’s going great, I know the form doesn’t read that way, but her sectionals were very good last start, it was just too short for her,” he said. “She was always going to get back and they would be too sharp, but it was a warm-up run to have her ready for this.
“She’s operated really well second-up before at the 2000 at Caulfield and I think it’s the right sort of race, she’s well-weighted and finally drawn a reasonable barrier.
“I think she’s got the ability to put herself in the first three or four in the run and I think she can run a good race.”
Positivity will be ridden by in-form hoop Ben Allen, carrying 56.5kg.
While she is likely to strike a Good4 surface at Caulfield, her stablemates in New Zealand are facing a very different fate, with track conditions dictating where Forsman takes his team of runners on Saturday.
Talented sprinter Force Of Nature (NZ) (Savabeel) was initially set for the Gr.3 Spring Sprint (1400m) at Otaki but poor weather curtailed those plans, making the Elsdon Park 1400 at Ellerslie the only suitable option in the near future.
A winner in half of his 10 starts, the gelding produced the only sub-par performance of his career last start at Te Rapa in August, Forsman putting that down to a true Heavy 10.
“I think the track was almost too heavy for him that day, he made hard work of it so that’s why we gave him a little freshen up,” he said. “We’ve been waiting for a track that wasn’t as heavy, but that’s not been easy to find, so I guess that’s the logic behind going to Ellerslie.
“He has been 1400m, but the worry is that he’s going into it in a bit of a fresh state. We did give him a trial at Te Rapa but that was a little while ago now.
“The Spring Sprint at Otaki had been his target race, so with that time between, we just hope he won’t be too fresh at the 1400.”
Privy Garden (So You Think) and Moonlight Magic (NZ) (Almanzor) have both been nominated for Sunday’s Wanganui Steelformers Waverley Cup (2200m) at Waverley, but the former is likely to appear at Trentham on the previous day in an Open mile.
“Privy Garden ran well last start (Gr.3 Metric Mile, 1600m), we were looking to gain some black-type with her and at a mile, there were just a couple that were a bit too fast for her,” Forsman said.
“We’re going to look to go over a little bit further and hope she can be effective at the middle-distance in black-type company. Running at Trentham this weekend is probably the first step in that direction.
“Moonlight Magic is a tricky one, she had a trial in between times but it feels like she ran first-up at a mile about two months ago now and we’ve been waiting for a middle-distance race that wasn’t on a heavy track.
“She handles a bit of cut in the ground, she likes it, but I’d be a bit nervous going to a middle-distance race on a testing track at this stage. She’s a doubtful starter for this weekend and we may just have to go back to a mile and start again with her a bit.”