Young Cranbourne trainer Matthew Brown has such a good opinion of Prix De Turn that he is trying to land the colt’s maiden win in a stakes race on Victoria Derby Day.
Prix De Turn runs in the Group 3 Carbine Club Stakes (1600m) at Flemington on Saturday at start number three and is coming off a last start seventh in the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m).
A setback before Prix De Turn’s debut second at Sandown in September resulted in the colt being behind schedule, but Brown was always keen to head to the Guineas.
But he also knew in the back of his mind that Prix De Turn may be one run short leading into that Group 1 contest and feels Saturday’s assignment is perfect for the son of Turn Me Loose.
“We might have found the right race and hopefully he can break his maiden,” Brown said.
“He’s ticked all the boxes and there’s no reason not to go around.
“He’s a quality colt. He just drew the wrong barrier to get a really good crack at the Guineas and we had to take our medicine and go back and ride a race to find the line, and he did that really well.
“The form around him is exceptional and he finds a very winnable race on Saturday.”
Brown has been training since 2015 and has 90 wins to his credit and his sole winner at stakes level was in Tasmania with Kiss Me Ketut in 2017.
But Brown believes Prix De Turn can take his career to the next level as he also goes about bettering the stock he has in his stable.
“He is the type of horse we’re after, but they’re hard to find,” Brown said.
“These are the horses we need and if he can win on Saturday, it would certainly kick us a long a bit.
“He’s drawn a barrier to get the right run and if it all falls into place, I would like to think he will take some beating.”
Prix De Turn sits on the second line of betting with TAB for Saturday’s race, firming from $4.80 into $3.90 behind the Chris Waller-trained Fangirl who is the $2.50 market leader.