Burning Up all set for Futurity Trophy tilt

Karl Burke expects conditions to bring out the best in Burning Up in the William Hill Futurity Trophy at Doncaster on Saturday.

The Too Darn Hot colt looked a seriously exciting prospect after winning his first two starts at Haydock and there was plenty of promise in his performance in finishing second to Aidan O’Brien’s Haffner in the Royal Lodge at Newmarket four weeks ago.

Burke admits the youngster has slightly taken him by surprise, but he is looking forward to seeing him test his powers in the final Group One of the season on Town Moor this weekend.

“He’s well, he doesn’t show an awful lot at home but he looks in good shape,” the Spigot Lodge handler told Sky Sports Racing.

“He’s a very lazy horse at home and we went to Haydock first time really just to get him on grass. The ground was so firm at that time of the year and we hadn’t done any work with the two-year-olds on grass at all, particularly him, so we went there just hoping he’d show some form and stay well.

“He obviously produced a good performance. I wasn’t sure how good that race was, but he went back and franked the form and that second race is working out pretty well.

“He’s definitely a horse who wants that bit of cut in the ground and he’s a strong staying horse. He’s obviously got to step up again in ability, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he did that.”

Reflecting on his latest effort on the Rowley Mile, Burke added: “I think if the ground had been a bit slower he would have got very close to the winner.

“He was a little bit green running down the hill that day, especially on that faster ground. On slower ground I think we would have been bang there.”

While keen to get Saturday out of the way before making any firm plans for next season, the trainer views his charge as a potential Derby trial contender.

He said: “We trained the half-sister (Novakai), who won a mile and a half Listed race. This fellow looks pretty useful, we’re very excited about him, hopefully he’ll show up well (on Saturday) and I think he could be a good mile and a quarter and maybe a mile and a half horse next year.

“If he puts in a big performance on Saturday something like the Dante (at York) as a starting point could be on the cards (next spring), but let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. He’s got a big day on Saturday and we have to get over that first.”