Scrutinize a colt for the future

Thoughts of Group One three-year-old targets are already on Team Te Akau’s radar with their regally-bred WS graduate Scrutinize. The youngster returned a perfect debut performance at Matamata this afternoon with a powerful finishing run to win at the first time of asking.

The son of the former multiple top-flight winners Savabeel and Legs lengthened stride impressively in the closing 250 metres to open his account. “He’s a really smart colt and we’ve got a very good opinion of him,” trainer Jason Bridgman said. “He’s bred to be more of a three-year-old so he’s shown today what a talent in the making he is.”

Te Akau principal David Ellis paid $200,000 to secure the colt out of WS’s 2014 Premier Sale draft. “David bought him as a Guineas and Derby sort of horse,” Bridgman said. “We’ll most likely put him out now – he’s a really promising type.”

Scrutinize is a half-brother to his Listed Spring Classic-winning stablemate Wolfwhistle (O’Reilly), a $240,000 Karaka purchase. The latter is a brother to the WS-raced Mary Quant, a winner and five times placed from a handful of starts.