Madison County to contest Sydney G1 races

NZ trainer Murray Baker will send Madison County to Sydney after a sale to Hong Kong fell through.

Star New Zealand three-year-old Madison County will be aimed at Group One races over the Sydney autumn after his sale to Hong Kong fell through.

The Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman-trained gelding won the Group One NZ 2000 Guineas in November and the Group One Levin Classic last month, both over 1600m.

He was set to start in the Group One Herbie Dykes Stakes (2000m) at Te Rapa earlier this month, but was scratched with the sale to Hong Kong pending.

The sale did not eventuate and next week he will head to Sydney where he is nominated for Group One races including the Randwick Guineas (1600m) and Rosehill Guineas (2000m).

“The sale fell over,” Baker told NZ Racing Desk.

“”We will take him to Sydney and race him. He is nominated over there.

“We are not disappointed. We have still got a good horse to train.

“He has missed very little work because we just kept him ticking over and we’ll probably go over there early next week.”

Baker has won more Australian Group One races than any other NZ-based trainer including the 2017 Australian Derby and Oaks with Jon Snow and Bonneval respectively.