Smart three-year-old Pushy remains unbeaten after three starts following an easy victory at Newcastle on Friday for trainer Michael Freedman.
A son of Little Avondale Stud stallion Time Test, Pushy was sent out a $1.80 favourite and gave his supporters little cause for concern as he romped to a near four-length victory in the Benchmark 68 Handicap (1600m) under Jason Collett.
Bigger things are now in-store for Pushy and Freedman has a lot of faith that the horse will continue to improve, with plenty of options should he stretch out over more ground.
“The point of the exercise today was to give him a try at the mile and see how he coped with it,” Freedman said.
“He certainly looked good over it and looked as though he would enjoy getting over even further which is great because it gives us a few more options going forward.
“So long as he pulls up okay, we will probably head towards a race like the Dulcify (Listed, 1600m) at Randwick in two weeks’ time and if he is holding good form we could look at maybe the Gloaming Stakes (Gr.3, 1800m) and Spring Champion Stakes (Gr.1, 2000m).”
Pushy has stepped through his grades nicely, winning on debut at Kembla Grange over 1200m and then again at Newcastle over 1400m prior to Friday’s success.
“He is not a very obvious horse. He is so laid-back and he is obviously gelded now but he is just the quietest and most gentle horse to work with,” Freedman said.
“He really doesn’t set the world on fire at home in any shape or form. It is only really when he comes out of the gates that you start to get a bit of an idea of the ability that he has got.
“I think with these young staying horses, I love the idea of taking them quietly through their grades on nice big tracks around the provincial circuits before we look to try and throw him in at the deep end.
“There is so much time with those horses in terms of getting them in good races in town, but I don’t feel there is any need to put them in the pressure cooker too early. He has had one run at Kembla and two nice runs on a big track like Newcastle and he has probably now laid the foundation to come back to better quality races in the city.”
Bred by Stephanie Hole, breeder of Gr.1 VRC Derby (2500m) winner Manzoice, Pushy was purchased by Michael Wallace for $60,000 as a yearling at Karaka from the draft of Wentwood Grange.
By Time Test, an impeccably-bred Group Two winning son of Dubawi, Pushy is out of the Anabaa mare Angel Child, who won four races up to 2100m. A half-brother to the Tony Gollan-trained Kronenbourg, who has won on four occasions, it is the family of Group Two winner Soleil Rouge and Group One winning Hong Kong sprinter All Thrills Too.
With Freedman not in attendance at Karaka that year he relied on the eyes of Wallace, with whom he has had a long-standing relationship.
“Michael did the book and not that we were shopping for anything in particular, but I said if you see some good types by stallions we can tolerate, put them forward,” Freedman said.
“He happily put that horse forward and I looked at his videos online and we had him vetted and bought him for what we thought was a pretty nice price.
“We bought another Time Test at the same sale that Michael also liked that is having his first start here on the weekend called Panic. He is entered for Newcastle tomorrow (Saturday) but he will probably wait until Nowra on Sunday and run in a $50,000 Super Maiden.
“For the last six or eight months everyone at the stable has said they’re almost like twins. They are so similar in appearance and demeanour, so I am a big fan of Time Test.”