By Jess de Lautour, LOVERACING.NZ News Desk
Byerley Park trainers Bruce Wallace and Grant Cooksley produced their promising contingent of juveniles to an impressive quinella in the Ellerslie Events 2YO 1100 at Pukekohe on Saturday.
In a compact field of six, the Wallace/Cooksley stable presented half of the two-year-old field and managed to fill the first two placings with So Naïve and Toruk Makto respectively.
A son of U S Navy Flag, So Naïve jumped from the inside draw and was hustled to hold the pacemaking position under apprentice Ace Lawson-Carroll, while stablemate Toruk Makto began alongside race-favourite Take The Crown, who briefly bucked and became detached from the remainder of the field early.
The long-striding So Naïve travelled boldly in front throughout and despite racing greenly in the home straight, the colt showed a strong turn-of-foot to score by a length-and-a-quarter from a fast-closing Toruk Makto and Joe Doyle.
“He was a wee bit slower out than I thought he would be, but we got there easy enough and got some nice sectionals out in front,” Lawson-Carroll said.
“He was very strong, very forward and will be a nice horse to watch in the future.”
So Naïve was sold as a weanling by Curraghmore for $21,010 before being on sold by Kilgravin Lodge for $37,500, at the 2023 Karaka Yearling Sales where he was purchased by Wallace Thoroughbreds.
