Down Under Muscles can take an early step towards emerging from the giant shadow of his famous older sibling when he contests the Peter Sadler Transport Tatlow Stakes 2YO Trotters Final at Moonee Valley tomorrow (Friday) night.
The half-brother to champion trotter A Touch Of Flair can do something his famous family member was unable to achieve when he steps out in the $30,000 Group 2 feature at just his third start.
A Touch Of Flair, who won 29 of his 62 starts in Australia and almost $500,000 in prizemoney before being sold to North America last year, also contested the Tatlow final at his third start, but could only manage an eighth placing.
In fact, it wasn’t until deep into his three-year-old season that A Touch Of Flair recorded his first black-type success. That win came in the Group 1 Victoria Trotters Derby in July 2004.
Trainer-driver Chris Alford recognises the comparisons with A Touch Of Flair are inescapable for the son of Muscles Yankee, but said the best way around them was to keep winning races.
“Hopefully it’ll get to the stage where he’s got more wins and they'll be saying that A Touch Of Flair is his brother,” Alford joked.
“But he’s started off well, and it is only early days, but he seems to have the natural talent that could take him a fair way.”
His only two starts to date have produced narrow, but impressive wins at Maryborough and in his Tatlow heat at Geelong. On both occasions he sat near the rear of the field before coming with a sweeping run around the field.
Down Under Muscles has drawn the pole in tomorrow night’s juvenile feature at 7.12pm, but Alford insists he won’t be changing his game plan because of the good barrier draw in the 2100m mobile start event.
“With two-year-olds, you don’t want to be doing anything stupid on them,” he said.
“I'll just let him come out however he wants and if he leads and or doesn't lead I won’t be that fussed because he came from behind at both his other starts and he seemed pretty strong.”
Down Under Muscles, whose other half-brother Son Of Flair finished second in the 1999 Tatlow, is the $2.35 favourite with TAB Sporstbet ahead of fellow heat winners Maori Vale ($2.60, barrier two) and Forward Press ($4.20, 11).
