Jason Warren is not a name Australian racing fans readily associate with imported gallopers but he is looking forward to taking the covers a recent stable acquisition at Sandown on Wednesday.
Corbulo, a gelded son of Belardo, will have his first Australian start for Warren and his training partner Dean Krongold in the Ladbrokes Blended Bets Handicap (1800m).
Warren said he could only recall previously starting two imports in Australia and Corbulo finding his way to his stable had been two years in the making.
“Chris Blomley found the horse for me,” Warren said. “I asked him a couple of years ago to keep an eye out for an import for me and he identified this horse as an option.
“I managed to secure him and stable clients bought in pretty quickly. We found the horse in October he was in our stable by December.”
Corbulo was bred in Ireland but has done most of his racing in England, where he won four of his 10 starts from distances ranging between 1609m and 2076m.
A four-year-old by Australian time, Corbulo has been given a solid grounding for his stable debut, including a 1500m Cranbourne trial in which he finished a 3.2-length third behind Hush Writer and Baritone.
“We gave a light little jumpout at Balnarring, but that was much too short for him, then we took him to Cranbourne trialled him over 1500 and he ran third,” Warren said.
“We gave him another trial at Mornington over 1000 and he ran nicely so he’s ready to go.
“He’ll put himself in a good spot and 1800 should be fine for him.”
Corbulo has drawn barrier two in Wednesday’s 10-horse race in which he will carry 57.5kg after the 2kg claim for Matthew Cartwright.