Promising three-year-old Simply Optimistic is on a winter break.

“He made good progress on his last preparation, he had three runs and won twice and was unlucky in the other one,” trainer Brendon Hawtin said.

“What he did at Pukekohe and at Hastings was what I was expecting from him when he first started racing. It was a shock to me, but with the pressure of raceday he didn’t know what it was all about.

“He’s gone to the paddock now and we’ll have him back for the spring, we’re looking forward to that.”

Stablemate Animator, a last-start winner at New Plymouth, has also been turned out.

“He’s having a break and we’ll look at something at the Hawke’s Bay carnival for him,” Hawtin said.