Italian Revolution, Aftermath impress

With racing set to resume on Saturday, two horses with last-start second-place finishes to their name were among the standouts at trackwork on a bright Tuesday morning.

They were Aftermath and Italian Revolution.

From the buzzing stables of Donna Logan, Aftermath ran out 600m on the Polytrack in a sizzling 34.9sec. He was guided by champion jockey Manoel Nunes.

As for Italian Revolution, it was Matthew Kellady who took him out for that morning spin, clocking 39.9sec for the same trip.

Both horses are in fine fettle and ready to rock.

Logan, who finished runner-up in last season’s chase for training honours, has surprisingly entered only a small – but compact – string of just six runners in the 12-race programme.

By her lofty standards, she still could pull off a win – maybe two.

Aftermath is one of her bright sparks.

The five-year-old is better than his record seems to suggest.

Right now, he has just one win to his name.

But, if you look at the bigger picture, Aftermath has five seconds and a couple of them could easily have been wins.

You do not have to look too far back.

Just flip the page to Nov 19 2022. When ridden by Jake Bayliss in a 1,200m romp on turf, Aftermath did not have the best of luck in the running.

The post-race report said he “misstrode, was restrained and later bumped”.

Yet, he finished with a flourish, going down by a nose to King Zoustar. It could easily have been a win.

Earlier, in late October, he again played bridesmaid, to Greatham Girl.

That time, the race was over the shorter 1,100m on the Polytrack.

His solitary win came in August 2022.

That day, when ridden by later-to-be-crowned champion apprentice jockey Yusoff Fadzli, Aftermath came with a well-timed run to beat Galaxy Star over 1,200m on grass.

Logan’s runner deserves a winning break. That win aside, five runner-up spots are hard to swallow.

Perhaps, victory will come on Saturday – even if it is not an easy race to navigate.

There are a couple of good ones in last-start winners Revolution and Last Samurai.

But, on current form and, if Aftermath can rustle up that little extra, he could post his second success.

As for Italian Revolution, he comes across as a feisty three-year-old.

Last time, in his second Kranji start, he found Sabah Ace just a tad too smart.

After staying close to the lead, he had to settle for second.

It must have been frustrating for trainer Shane Baertschiger, as it was the second time that his charge had taken the “silver” when it could have been gold.

The first was on Oct 8. That day, Italian Revolution attempted to make every post a winning one, but was overtaken by Flying Nemo who, quite literally, flew home.

Italian Revolution came into Tuesday’s workout on the back of two more-than-decent trials during the off-season.

He ran second behind Zestful on Dec 20 and, nine days later on Dec 29, went down third behind Sabah Win.

In that latest one, Kellady attempted to make all the running on the youngster, only to get mowed down over the concluding stages by Sabah Win and Tantheman.

Italian Revolution is a work in progress and, come Saturday, Baertschiger will present him in the parade ring looking all muscled up and ready to go.

Another horse who could be going through the grades in the 2023 season is Ahorsewithnoname.

She did a fluent gallop, clocking 40.3sec for 600m.

Prepared by newly crowned champion trainer Tim Fitzsimmons, the mare by Adelaide showed a flash of form in her last start when third in a blanket finish.

That day, she had the tendency to hang out, which eventually was to her disadvantage.

It allowed Beyond Sacred to take the honours from Great Command.

Ahorsewithnoname is, quite definitely, on the ascent.

Keep her on your shortlist. You never know, she might soon make a name for herself.