The Anthony & Sam Freedman trained Artorius joined Chris Waller’s Nature Strip and Home Affairs on a 32-hour flight via Dubai and all three handled the trip well according to their respective trainers.
Speaking from Eagle Farm, Chris Waller was pleased with the initial report on his two sprinting stars.
“They’ve travelled well, they’ve settled in well. It’s still early days, they haven’t been there 24 hours yet, so I’d like to get the 72 hour period out of the way and then say they’re on top of the world,” Waller said.
“It’s always a tricky time, you want to make sure they’re eating up, no temperatures and then we’ll be out of the danger zone.”
As a colt, having a travelling companion for Home Affairs was important for Waller.
“They travelled really well on the plane, Nature Strip’s an older horse, it’s great for a young colt, just good mates together the whole way,” Waller said.
Artorius is also a colt, but co-trainer Sam Freedman said he’d done very well on the journey, attributing that to his temperament.
“It’s a fair journey. He only lost 9kgs so he’s handled it brilliantly. Couldn’t have asked for him to handle the trip better,” Freedman said.
“It’s always a concern travelling a horse across the globe, but him in particularly it didn’t bother him. He’s a very relaxed horse.”
Artorius will be staying with Charlie Fellowes in Newmarket ahead of a potential two start campaign, with a clash against Home Affairs in the Group 1 Platinum Jubilee Stakes (1200m) first on the cards before a potential run in the Group 1 July Cup (1200m) at Newmarket on July 9th.
Nature Strip is likely to run on the first day of the Royal Ascot carnival, with the Group 1 Kings Stand Stakes (1000m) his initial target, with the potential to back up against his Australian counterparts four days later.