Race Result:

1st: Air Assault (A Gluyas/J Holder) - $2.80
2nd: Easy Dun (A Noblet/J Allen) - $2.20 fav
3rd: Poppin' Champagne (M Price & M Kent Jnr/J Kah) - $7

Winning Time: 1:37.79 Last 600m: 35.81

Margins: 1.5 lengths x Head

Class comes to the fore in the Guineas as Air Assault notches his third Stakes race @MacdonaldRacing pic.twitter.com/LmSEKbNiM3

— Racing.com (@Racing) March 11, 2024

 

Winning Trainer: Andrew Gluyas

On the win: "That was a good result, he sort of controlled the race, hard work to get to where he got to, Jason sort of summed that up well and knew the horse that he had, he was the contender, I think they had to beat him today, runs on the board, he stuck true, it was a good win."

From two to three: "The Sires was difficult, he was a very precocious colt, quite difficult, it was almost a fluke we got to that after the Breeder's here in that Autumn, he was gelded after that because he had to be, he's still not entirely settled as a horse, still got a lot of growth to do mentally so if we can sort that out, that'd be great to get him to a nice race and win one, so we've got to work on his composure but his attitude and his pluck is fantastic."

Early work: "He did. That's today's race, moving forward we go to 1800 (metres) and that's a different profile again of race patterns but he spent a little bit, but he sort of broke their hearts on the corner and it was a good, tough run."

Another Derby tilt?: "The Vase was good, just got beaten for speed that day, the winner came around him and sort of knocked him that little bit too, when he was looking to get into the race, he couldn't but then on straightening he hit the line well, running third that day, he did settle enough for us to go to the (Victoria) Derby and put his hand up to run in it, he ran 2000 metres and that was it on that occasion.

"Is he that horse? We'll find that out over the next couple of starts and decide whether we go that way with him, but anyway, we're excited for the 1800 and 2000 (metres) here in Adelaide over the next five weeks."

Winning Jockey: Jason Holder

On the preparation: "When he was a colt too, I had to do most of the work on him as well, he always been a nice horse and geez, today, he stepped up for me today, I worked him the other morning and thought he worked a bit ordinary but, not ordinary just he galloped against Party Princess and she had me covered a long way out. He's normally a better track worker than that but he brought it to the races today."

Hot day: "He does get hot anyway but he was very hot around the gates, the staff gave me a towel and he started calming down, he doesn't get excited and stuff, he saves his energy but he just gets really hot."

Early in the race: "Jamie came up my inside, it was good to ride against Jamie and all those guys over from Melbourne, they read the play well, I was going too quick so they elected to come back off me so I had my chance in front so it worked out really well.

"He was good, I thought he might get a bit tired over the being mile second up, that was in the back of my mind but once I gave him a hit as I was turning he responded beautifully, I thought he won't get beat."