So Naive hasn’t put a foot wrong in his three-year-old campaign so far, and trainers Bruce Wallace and Grant Cooksley are hoping his purple patch of form continues at Te Rapa on Monday.

The U S Navy Flag colt was a handy two-year-old, winning two his four juvenile starts, but he blossomed into a three-year-old where he won the Gr.3 Northland Breeders’ Stakes (1200m) first-up before finishing runner-up to Savaglee in the Gr.2 Hawke’s Bay Guineas (1400m).

So Naive is on a path towards the Gr.1 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m) at Riccarton next month and will have a final lead-in run in the Gr.2 James And Annie Sarten Memorial (1400m) on Labour Day.

It is shaping as a vintage edition of the age group feature, with the field comprising of exciting Group One performer Captured By Love, in-form Hawke’s Bay Guineas victor Savaglee, and stakes winners Super Photon and Domain Ace.

Cooksley has been pleased with the way So Naive has been tracking since his last start and believes he will take further improvement from Monday’s hit-out into his Group One southern target.

“He has improved from last time, he has come along quite well,” Cooksley said. “Whatever he does on Monday he is going to improve on too, as long as the track is not too bad.”

By Joshua Smith, LOVERACING.NZ News Desk