Corowa trainer Rick Freyer is hopeful new stable acquisition Norbert can kick off on a winning note at the Mates Day Out meeting at Wagga on Friday.
The former north coast trained four-year-old makes his debut for Freyer in the Cottontails On The Ridge Class 2 Hcp (1200m).
Freyer races the son of Hidden Dragon with his mother, Jenny Forrest and father-in-law Ian Forrest.
“A trackwork rider friend of mine told me about the horse and we ended up buying him unsighted,” Freyer said.
“He arrived early October and when I first saw him after he got off the float I was thrilled.
“He has great length and size, just the sort of horse we were looking for.”
Norbert won two races as a two-year-old under Port Macquarie’s Alan Hayden after finishing runner-up on his home track on debut on May 13 last year.
Subsequently, the gelding was unplaced in three starts.
“Apparently he was a horse that thought a lot,” Freyer said.
“We’ve just changed things around since he’s arrived and I couldn’t be happier with him.
“We’ve restricted his work, just a lot of light stuff, trotting, light cantering and long walks.
“He’s responding.
“The horse has shown ability right from day one.
“He’s doing everything asked of him. He hasn’t missed a beat.”
Norbert resumed from a 238-day spell under Hayden finishing a moderate 7-1/4 lengths sixth to the Jenny Graham-trained Ripthis over 1000m at Port Macquarie on October 7 and hasn’t raced since.
Freyer trialled the gelding at Wangaratta on Monday with race jockey Nick Souquet in the saddle.
Norbert finished third over 900m.
“He went lovely in the trial, just what we wanted and going the Victorian way (ant-clockwise) for the first time,” Freyer said.
“Nick got off and said he was very happy. He likes him.
“It was the perfect hit out to have him right to start over 1200 metres.
“Backing him up quickly isn’t a problem.
“We’re expecting him to run very well.”
AAP TURF
