Mornington trainer Dean Binaisse thinks the pressure is off after winning a country Cup with Firejet but now the challenge is to win a metropolitan race with the lightly-raced five-year-old.
Binaisse has always had a good opinion of the gelding who has won three of his 15 starts.
But it appears he is only now starting to put it all together and will be chasing a hat-trick in the $70,000 0-78 Hcp (1800m) at Sandown on Saturday following wins in a Moe 0-68 Hcp (1600m) and in the Traralgon Cup (1900m).
His rating has risen sharply from 61 to 78 following those two wins, going up 13 points for his Traralgon Cup victory in which he earned $32,363 in prizemoney, more than half of his career earnings of $61,083.
Firejet gave jockey Ruth Bradley her biggest win and her first Cup success when he edged out 2010 Group Two St George Stakes (1800m) winner La Rocket by a short half-head in the $50,000 event on December 11.
“He races in the same colours as (stable star) Carnero and his owner Bret Davies has been driving me crazy to win him a Cup and I’ve got him one now, so he can get off my back,” Binaisse quipped.
The victory was a satisfying one for Binaisse, who said the Tale Of The Cat gelding almost died due to an infection a year ago.
“He had an infection in his bile duct that went up to his liver and he was nearly dead 12 months ago, so he’s done a huge job,” he said.
The challenge is now to win in town and in an effort to achieve that on Saturday, Binaisse has engaged apprentice Ben Knobel whose three-kilogram metropolitan allowance will bring Firejet in with 56kg.
Knobel has a good record on Firejet having ridden him five times for two wins and a second.
Firejet has raced in twice in town to date, both times as a three-year-old when last to Beyond Pardon over 1400m at Caulfield in April 2010 and when eighth to Kutchinsky over 2000m at Flemington the following month after which he was sent for a spell.
Equal topweights with Firejet in the event are the David Hayes-trained Token Of Honour, a last-start 1720m winner at Flemington who has won three races in Melbourne, and Golago, a Sandown 1800m winner who was runner-up to Vivid Vixen in this year’s Pakenham Cup (1750m).
AAP TURF
