| Former high-priced yearling Aurum Belle has returned to work and will be aimed up at Ascot three-year-old riches. And Hall of Fame trainer Neville Parnham is adamant the best is yet to come with the precocious daughter of Snitzel, a $725,000 purchase from last year’s Australian Easter Yearling Sale. "She has filled out so much, she is a lot more robust than she was as a two-year-old," Parnham said. "She hasn’t grown a lot in height, but I stood alongside her a couple of Thursdays ago and she definitely has improved physically. She’s a real powerhouse. "As we sit here today she’ll be aimed up at the Max Simmonds Stakes which is now a Listed race so that’s an important start point and then in all likelihood we will target the Placid Ark, which we know is worth a lot of money and attracts the best three-year-olds." | Aurum Belle created an impression when winning emphatically on debut over 1000m in February before achieving black-type success in the Listed Supremacy Stakes (1000m) and Group 3 Gimcrack Stakes (1100m). She rounded out a superb juvenile campaign with a gallant third in the Group 2 Karrakatta Plate (1200m), her chances impacted by a wide barrier draw. "She has a lot of talent, so much talent … it’s frightening, actually," Parnham said. "I didn’t screw her down as a two-year-old to be a fast two-year-old, she was so naturally gifted. What she did was great. "I am expecting her to come back a lot better than what she was because we have only just touched the surface with her." |
