Calvin McEvoy said debutant Pad Thai had ticked all the boxes for his meeting with six fellow debutants at Murray Bridge on Saturday.
A $150,000 buy from last year’s Gold Coast Magic Millions Yearling Sale, Pad Thai has shown plenty of natural improvement in his two public appearances.
He was a touch wayward in a Werribee jump-out before a strong Flemington effort on December 17.
“He’s a very nice colt,” McEvoy said.
“He’s done everything right. He was a little dumb in his first jump-out at Werribee and then put it all together in his second jump-out at Flemington and has travelled over to Adelaide in good order.
“I haven’t had a good chance to really line-up the form but everything he’s done at home has shown he can go there and run a very competitive race.”
The stable has Deep Speed – part-owned by former Hawthorn and Gold Coast AFL star Campbell Brown – stepping out in the Magic Millions Rising Stars for three and four-year-olds at the Gold Coast on Saturday.
The horse was a Morphettville winner on debut back in October before going to Melbourne and winning at Moonee Valley. He was placed at his next two starts at the back end of the spring before being tuned up for his Queensland mission via a Canterbury barrier trial.
“He’s honestly going as good as he’s ever gone,” McEvoy said.
“He’s drawn a bit sticky, but we’ve elected to run him in the harder race. We’re really hopeful he’s going well enough to win that race.”
