Exciting four-year-old Folding Gear will be chasing some tail-end spring spoils in the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown.
Father and son training combination Lee and Shannon Hope had hoped Folding Gear would be a Caulfield Cup contender but plans went awry when the gelding was injured in the float on the way to what was to be his spring debut in the Aurie’s Star Handicap (1200m) at Flemington on August 11.
“It was big disappointment,” Lee Hope said.
“He was on his way down to Flemington in the float when a revving motorbike spooked him and he cut his leg.”
Hope said that while the laceration wasn’t serious it was enough to stop Folding Gear’s campaign and end hopes of running him in the Caulfield Cup.
“We thought it was no good pushing him to run in the carnival so we would try for the end,” Hope said.
“We are just happy that we have got him back.”
The winner of two of his six starts, Folding Gear will be second-up in Saturday’s Group Three Eclipse (1800m) after an encouraging low-key comeback run when beaten just over two lengths into fifth place over 1400 metres at Bendigo on October 26.
“We were happy with the run,” Hope said.
“He probably didn’t go home with brilliance but he never ever has.
“He just kept coming that day but it is a different ball game at 1800 metres.”
Folding Gear’s best form has been over that distance, winning at the trip at Sandown in February before scoring an upset in the Group Two Autumn Classic (1800m) at Caulfield on Blue Diamond Stakes Day.
He rounded out his first campaign, under lights at Moonee Valley, with a gallant third to Domesky in the Group Two Alister Clark Stakes (2040m) on March 18.
“He only got beaten about a length at the Valley but he led and he may have had enough that night,” Hope said.
He said Folding Gear could run in the Moe Cup (1600m) on December 16 and then have a freshen up before the autumn.
AAP TURF
