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Harris Walker and Pat Carey will see how Maputo runs in the 2800-metre Listed VRC St Leger at Flemington on Anzac Day before deciding if the gelding pushes on to the Group 1 South Australian Derby.

The son of British stallion Crowded House has raced just four times, but has already displayed good staying ability, breaking his maiden impressively over 2000m at Pakenham two runs ago as a $41 chance.

And despite looking in trouble around the bend at his most recent start, Maputo flattened out to hit the line superbly in the Listed 2400-metre Galilee Series Final at Caulfield, just over four lengths behind winner Gold Wolf.

With these runs under his belt, Walker is excited to see what the progressive three-year-old can do with an extra two furlongs and on a much bigger track.

“He got a little bit lost between runners there at Caulfield, but once he got into clean running, he savaged the line,” he said.

“He really earmarked himself as a horse that would one, enjoy Flemington, and two, enjoy the 2800m.

“Physically, he’s always been quite mature, but mentally he just lacked a bit of race-day experience. In each run, he’s shown progression, especially after his maiden win.

“He’s really come on from there, he’s quite professional now – he does his work, he knows what he’s doing and he really savages that line.”

With Maputo still in his first racing preparation, Walker and Carey are prepared for things to tail off with every subsequent run.

But on the flipside, another strong performance could see him set for the $1 million SA Derby, to be run on May 4.

“We’ll let Thursday guide us, being a three-year-old and in his first campaign, it could all come to an end,” Walker said.

“But he could also come through and thrive and, in that case, there’s races like the SA Derby that would suit him to a tee.

“He’ll have to come through the race on Thursday in good order, but hopefully he runs quite well and quite forward and then he can steamroll into Adelaide.”

Maputo isn’t the only SA Derby contender in the yard, with fellow Crowded House offspring Zakouma also nominated for the feature.

Zakouma ran a very different but equally gutsy race in the Galilee Final, sticking on gamely from on the speed to finish fourth, two lengths ahead of his stablemate.

Walker said the gelding has been in fine order since and after matching motors with Maputo in a gallop on Tuesday morning, could also be G1-bound in the coming weeks, though this is by no means a certainty.

“We’re not too sure where he’s going to go yet, he does also hold a nomination for the SA Derby,” he said.

“But we’ll just see how he comes through his gallop this morning, the pair of them worked on the course proper at Mornington and he was just as good as Maputo.

“We’ll make an assessment over the next few days and figure out whether he goes to the races again or to the paddock.

“Physically, he’s just a little bit lighter on than Maputo, so it’s just going to be a gallop-by-gallop case with him.”

**Courtesy racing.com