Feroce will always be a special horse for young trainer Dominic Sutton.
The three-year-old gave Sutton his first win when taking out a maiden Pakenham last March and was also the young trainers first metropolitan winner, at Caulfield, the following month.
Six months later Feroce almost pulled off an upset win in the Caulfield Guineas, only to be beaten by the Chris Waller-trained Private Life.
It has been a whirlwind 11 months since Sutton had his first starter from boxes at Pakenham before a shift to Ballarat and now, he has a further 18 boxes at Flemington that were formerly used by Mathew Ellerton.
Sutton is still chasing his first Stakes victory and has two chances at Flemington on Saturday with Feroce in the Group 3 CS Hayes Stakes (1400m) and Sword Of Legacy in the Listed Talindert Stakes (1100m).
Feroce is resuming after finishing third in the Group 3 Carbine Club Stakes (1600m) at Flemington last November which followed his Caulfield Guineas placing.
The Group 1 Australian Guineas (1600m) at Flemington on March 1 is Sutton’s immediate focus with Feroce who is also among nominations for all the Sydney three-year-old features along with the Group 1 All-Star Mile (1600m) at Flemington on March 8.
Sutton deliberated as to whether to run Feroce in the Group 2 Autumn Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield last Saturday or wait for the C S Hayes Stakes instead.
Getting added experience at Flemington won out.
“We get to give him some more experience at Flemington before we go on to the big one after that,” Sutton said.
“He came out of the trial super. He’s ready to go.”
Feroce ran second in a trial at Geelong on January 28 to show he was ready for his racetrack return.
Sword Of Legacy enters the Talindert Stakes off a narrow defeat at the hands of Inkaruna in the Group 3 Chairman’s Stakes (1000m) at Sandown on February 1.
It was a gut-wrenching result for Sutton who said he would not get over it until the filly wins a Stakes race.
