Braun brings the intrigue with exciting Terang trio

A rising star with huge wraps, an exciting Aussie debutante and unbeaten gelding first-up since late 2019 will provide plenty of intrigue in Victoria’s south-west this weekend.

And they all come from the same stable, with top trainer Dean Braun set to float a team of three to the Terang cup meeting this Saturday night.

Braun has made no secret about his love for Willie Go West and he continued to heap praise on the five-year-old ahead of his tilt at the Group 2 Terang Co-Op Pacing Cup.

“I think Cruz Bromac is the best horse I’ve trained still today. We’ve been lucky enough to have some pretty nice horses. Even horses like Im Corzin Terror, he made half a million dollars, and some good mares Nike Franco and Shartin of course,” Braun told Trots Talk.

“I think this horse has got the potential to be right there with them. He’s definitely got the big engine, his gait may let him down a little bit, but every time he steps out he’s definitely pacing better.”

Willie Go West was a brilliant winner of the Hobart Pacing Cup first-up on January 9 and then had little chance of success in a walk-and-dash style Del-Re National A G Hunter Cup at his most recent start.

Trapped four back the pegs, the son of Auckland Reactor finished off nicely in the straight but could only manage 10^th, some 15m behind winner King Of Swing.

“He’s trained on really good since the Hunter Cup. I trained him this morning (Wednesday) and he trained really good. I was really happy with the way he worked,” Braun said.

“I thought Kimble would probably be the early leader, maybe Demon Delight would probably press forward too I would say.

“That’s where we are lucky enough to have Chris Alford on and I’m sure he’ll work it out when he gets out there. But I think he’ll (Willie Go West) race forward.”

Phoenix Prince, who joins Emma Stewart-trained stablemates Demon Delight and Like A Wildfire in the Pacing Cup, is the other runner that emerges from the Hunter Cup this Saturday night at Terang.

Itz Miss Auckland is a new addition to the Braun camp, with the five-year-old mare to tackle the Morsebearings Dalvui Dominator Pace first-up from New Zealand on Saturday night.

“We haven’t had her that long,” Braun said.

“She gives me a pretty good feel at home, she has been training down with another mare we’ve been racing called Im Off N Gone.

“She’s been working alongside her pretty good, I’m pretty happy.

“She’s right out of her depth, she’s only a 50 rater in the 65-79 mares, but she’s got no form and no field selection points so it makes it hard to get a start.

“So we thought we’d just put her in there, throw her in the deep end and see where she’s at.”

Punters have been waiting a long time to see unbeaten, injury-plagued gelding Holy Basil back at the races, and he will compete for the first time since December 2019 in the Wheelie Waste Pace.

The now six-year-old is undefeated from six career starts and Braun’s fingers are crossed he can get back to somewhere near his best.

“He’s gone amiss a couple of times, (but) he’s a pretty special horse I think,” he said.

“He’s only had the six for six and he’s been a tick outside a couple of track records a couple of times.

“He’s had two trials back. We gave him a pretty quiet trial at Bendigo and then he trailed last Monday at Melton, broke 56sec his half and brushed a quarter in 26sec.

“He was a very serious horse, so we are just hoping he can get back to somewhere near that.”