Caulfield Preview: Katsu Faces A Challenge

GRAHAME Begg concedes his sprinter Katsu faces a stronger Group 3 Sir John Monash Stakes (1100m) field than what he had envisaged he would.

Another trainer Clinton McDonald saw the strength in the entries for the race and decided to keep his three-year-old filly Flying On A Limb to her own age group in the seventh race.

Smart James Cummings trained sprinter Ingratiating, who loves Caulfield and has performed well at Group 2 level at the track and distance is favourite. Flying Sydney sprinters Malkovich and Sweet Ride are also in the race as is the in-form Peter Moody trained Sigh.

Begg is keen to test his three-year-old gelding against some capable sprinters in what shapes as an intriguing Group 3 event at Caulfield.

Begg said Katsu had one race left in him for this preparation and the Sir John Monash Stakes was the most suitable race.

He said as a late three-year-old Katsu also didn’t get a great advantage at the weight for age scale.

He told Racing.com that Katsu would have break and be brought back for sprints late in the spring and then he would run over summer.

Begg said Katsu wasn’t the finished product but he still expected him to run well.