One-win galloper Gold Wolf (NZ) (Tivaci) faces a stern task in Friday’s Listed Tasmanian Derby (2200m) as he takes on in-form Patrick Payne-trained galloper Bold Soul (NZ) (Embellish).

Prepared by David and Coral Feek, Gold Wolf  broke his maiden convincingly over 1600m at Moe in December before moderate performances over 2000m at Seymour and Pakenham.

But David Feek has seen a newfound maturity in the son of Tivaci’s trackwork and, with the benefit of an additional run under his belt, is optimistic he can run a cheeky race in the Derby.

“I like this horse,” he said.

“We wanted to keep him in his own age group and for him, the further the better, so this was an obvious target at this stage of the calendar year.

“I thought he was good winning his maiden first-up at 1600m and he was pretty sound at Seymour when the run just got blocked on him.

“We were meant to go to a three-year-old 2000m race at Flemington, but he had a minor setback and missed the run, which meant that he was five weeks between runs at Pakenham last start.

“We were disappointed with him on the night, but once we had a chance to watch the replay and take into account that time between runs, we decided to press on.

“He worked really nicely yesterday, we weren’t out to break records but he’s just showing increased mental maturity in his fast work.

“People looking at his replays will see a green, raw horse but we’re seeing a slightly more grown-up horse in his work since Pakenham.”

Gold Wolf is a $17 chance in a market headed by Bold Soul at $1.60, who enters off the back of wins at Flemington and in the Listed Launceston Guineas (2100m), the latter when carrying 60kg topweight.