They carry great expectations from having sisters who have won the past two Golden Slippers, so it was no surprise to see colts Outreach and Mawahibb cross the line together in a barrier trial at Rosehill on Tuesday.
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The blue-blood colts cleared out from rivals in the trial, but the Snowden and Hawkes camps pointed out they still had to do it on race day.
The signs are both colts have inherited the family traits of speed and precocity. They will debut in coming weeks when a true measure of their ability will be made, but there was much to like about Tuesday's trial.
The pair recorded 53 seconds for the 900 metres, a time 0.7 seconds quicker than the other juvenile heats of the morning, and put 3¼ lengths into Godolphin's Chamarel, which was third.
"He is a nice horse and he has done everything right. He is just a natural running horse. He has got nice ability – how much we are about to find out," co-trainer Peter Snowden said of Outreach, who was having his second trial and was shown the whip to hold a long neck margin on Mawahibb.
"That was the first time he has been clicked up.
"He has run the fastest time of the day at his second trial; you can't ask for more than that.
"He is still very new and very raw. He has got ability and at this stage he may run [the Canonbury Stakes] on January 31."
Outreach was retained by breeder George Altmonte, who enjoyed Golden Slipper success with Overreach in 2013.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al-Maktoum paid $750,000 for Mawahibb at the second session of last year's Easter sale after half-sister Mossfun had won last year's Golden Slipper.
The Magic Albert colt was entrusted to Team Hawkes and they have been in no rush to get him to the races, even though he was impressive at the first official two-year-old barrier trials in September.
He didn't start before Christmas but again looked smart sitting outside Outreach on Tuesday.
"He has come back well and looks well. He is bigger and stronger. He wasn't ready for it [in the spring], although he trialled really well at Randwick," Mawahibb's co-trainer Michael Hawkes said.
"He went good [in Tuesday's trial], he travelled well. He did what he had to do.
"We just wanted him to trial before working out where he would go and we will assess him in the next couple of days. Obviously you are aiming toward the major races, but where they start is a different thing to where they finish."
Hawkes also stepped out Fastnet Rock three-year-old Emaratee, who topped the 2013 Easter sale at $4 million.
"He was out three and four wide and was caught flatfooted when they sprinted," Hawkes said after Emaratee was beaten. "He's learning and is just a big baby, but he is getting there."
It was a day for the autumn horses to return on Tuesday – champion miler Boban was among the trial winners, while Cosmic Endeavour, Sweynesse and Weary did enough to suggest that they will be around the mark in the next couple of months.
Meanwhile, William Hill is to rebrand it three corporate bookmaking businesses in Australia to come under the banner of its international brand. Sportingbet will be first to change its name, to be followed by Centrebet and TomWaterhouse.com in due course.
William Hill Australia announced it would increase its marketing budget by $10 million as part of the rebranding.
