THE CHOSEN ONE - NOT ONE TO UNDERESTIMATE

By Graham Potter | Friday, May 27, 2022

For some, like the connections of wet track horses and mudlarks, the chance of racing being to their advantage on a heavy Doomben track surface disappeared when the meeting was postponed last Saturday. For others, who had an overall preference to race at Doomben … whenever … because it better suits their horse’s racing strengths than Eagle Farm, well, that perceived extra edge that Doomben might have supplied last week is gone.

So, to say the switch of venue for the ‘Super Saturday’ meeting at Eagle Farm means different things to different people would be an understatement.

Andrew Forsman is one of the trainers very happy to take his chances at Eagle Farm.

Forsman saddles The Chosen One in the Group 1 Doomben Cup. (It is The Chosen One’s first run for Forsman in his own right … the horse previously having been trained by the Murray Baker, Andrew Forsman training partnership).

"It's good for The Chosen One … getting to Eagle Farm (away from the heavy going) is the key for him," Forsman told Racing.com. “He went to Eagle Farm for a good hit-out on Tuesday morning. He is as good as he can be.”

The Chosen One, of course, bumps into one of those most formidable of rivals in the form of Zaaki in the Doomben Cup, but that in no way minimises The Chosen One’s own credentials going into the race.

Since finishing fifth behind Verry Elleegant in last year’s Melbourne Cup, The Chosen One has raced five times … all in Group 1 company.

The Savabeel six-year-old won the Group 1 Thornton Mile at Trentham in his first run after the Melbourne Cup, beating Coventina Bay (who also lines up in the Doomben Cup) by 2.30 lengths.

Those two runners met again in their next two starts with Coventina Bay winning both the Group 1 Herbie Dyke Stakes over 2000m at Te Rapa, and the Group 1 Bonecrusher Stakes over 2000m at Ellerslie … with The Chosen One finishing third on both of those occasions.

The Chosen One then held his consistent Group 1 form when again finishing third in the Group 1 Tancred (won by Duais) at Newcastle.

You can stack all of those results up as a big positive.

The Chosen One’s last run … if you can call it that … in the Sydney Cup though had negative connotations. Whether you can draw a line through it … or not … is the dilemma facing punters.

As reported in the official steward’s report of that day … ‘The Chosen One – Began awkwardly. Rider H. Bowman reported that the entire seemed to experience some breathing issue and when out of contention he eased his mount down in the straight. A post-race veterinary examination revealed The Chosen One to be slow to recover.’

Just what part the extra heavy going played in that episode is hard to clearly define … the move to Eagle Farm does help allay that concerns to some extent … but Forsman has taken a range of actions designed to change things up in order to help refresh The Chosen One’s interest … the blinkers go on again, as does the lugging bit … and a cross-over nose band and a tongue-toe go on for the first time.

There is a change of jockey as well.

In his last twelve starts the rides on The Chosen One have been shared by Damien Lane (5 times), Hugh Bowman (four times) and Matthew Cameron (three times) and they will all give way to Opie Bosson, who will take the reins on Saturday.

With Zaaki dominating the Doomben Cup betting at $1.36, exaggerated prices are available on the rest of the runners with The Chosen One currently sitting on $41.

Lastly, for the record, The Chosen One’s win in the Thornton Mile and Coventina Bay’s back-to-back wins in the Herbie Dyke Stakes and the Bonecrusher Stakes mark these two New Zealanders as the only runners in the Doomben Cup line-up, apart from Zaaki, to have scored at Group 1 level this season.

As such, even though Zaaki might appear to have the race all sewn up on paper, they certainly have earned their chance to have a throw at the stumps.