The son of Holy Roman Emperor showed his quality with victory in Saturday's Group II Darci Brahma Waikato Guineas and he will strip a fitter three-year-old for his
return to Ellerslie for the Gr.2 Avondale Guineas on February 14."He hadn't raced for seven weeks and I thought he could have been a bit vulnerable," said Murray Baker, who prepares Mongolian Khan with Andrew Forsman.
"This horse has quite a bit of upside and I thought he may have needed the run, but his class got him through.
"He's a beautiful colt and he's going to take a lot of improvement from this into the Avondale Guineas and then the Derby."
The Gr.2 Great Northern Guineas and Listed Karaka Mile winner Volkstok'n'barrell is the current Gr.1 TV3 NZ Derby favourite at $2.50 with Mongolian Khan's quote cut in half to $5.
He was given an economical run near the pace by Opie Bosson and they proved too good in the straight for the front-runner Giant Turtle with the maiden longshot Prima a bold third.
"He relaxed beautifully and came up underneath me when I wanted him to," Bosson said.
"He always had the others covered and he's only going to improve. The Derby trip will be ideal for him."
The effort of the fourth placegetter McQueen was full of merit after the Jim Collett-trained gelding stumbled out of the barrier and all but dislodged rider Sam Collett.
They were then forced wide to improve and did well to finish in front of Margin Trader and Kolonel Kev.
"He's an out and out staying horse and Dad did a lot of work with this horse early in his career to get him to settle," Collett said. – NZ Racing Desk.
