The poor barrier manners of lightly-raced gelding Altonio early in his career have proved a blessing in disguise for young bush trainer Leon Davies.
A son of emerging staying sire Savabeel, Altonio was initially slated for a Queensland trainer but he proved such a handful in the barriers, that plan went awry.
“He had some barrier issues that they couldn’t sort out,” Davies said.
“The owners sent him to me and I managed to get him right so they said, `Well, you got him right, you can have him’.
“It was just a confidence thing more or less.
“I just had to teach him he wasn’t going to get hurt in there.”
The 29-year-old Davies, based at Tamworth in north-west NSW, was rewarded when Altonio won his first two starts in the country.
In June this year he provided the young horseman with his first city winner when he scored over 1900m at Canterbury.
Not that Davies is a stranger to the big smoke.
He spent 12 months working for Gai Waterhouse before moving to the Gold Coast where he further honed his craft under Bryan Guy.
He has been training at Tamworth for four years and has “40 or 50 horses on the books”.
Altonio, a half-brother to 2009 WATC Derby winner Markus Maximus, will chase his first metropolitan win in Saturday class at Warwick Farm this weekend in the Sydney Carnival 2012 Handicap (2200m).
The five-year-old was a first-up fifth over an unsuitable 1250m at Canterbury in September before scoring over 1600m at Coonamble on October 9.
He headed to Melbourne where he was a sound seventh to Lamasery in the Listed Johnnie Walker Stakes (1800m) on Cup day at Flemington.
While Altonio is untested beyond 1900m, Davies has no doubt he will run Saturday’s journey, and more.
“The further the better,” he said.
“I’m happy I’ve finally been able to get him over a trip.”
If Altonio runs up to expectations, Davies will put him on a path towards the Christmas and Summer Cups in December.
“And if he jumps out of the ground the owners are keen on the Perth Cup,” Davies said.
“He’s taking me a few places.”
Altonio has had seven starts for four wins and will have Brenton Avdulla in the saddle.
AAP TURF
