Two-year-old Lyric is odds-on to win his Rosehill debut on Saturday but trainer Peter Snowden says he is surprised at the hype surrounding the colt.
The son of Flying Spur is the $1.65 favourite for the Blackwoods Sidchrome Handicap (1100m) on the back of an easy barrier trial win at Warwick Farm.
Snowden said Lyric was doing everything right and he expected him to run well on Saturday but was surprised he was such a short-priced favourite.
“I don’t think it (the price) is justified,” Snowden said.
“There’s a lot of hype about the horse but it’s not coming from the stable.
“We just think he’s a nice horse, nothing more than that.
“He did trial nicely and he does work well but I certainly don’t rate him as a superstar.”
Lyric was entered for last Saturday’s program at Canterbury and was an early odds-on favourite but was scratched on race morning because of the heavy rain.
“I only want to give him one run (this preparation) and I didn’t want to do it on a bottomless track,” he said.
He added that the extra week of work had helped the colt’s fitness as well ahead of his re-scheduled debut.
Lyric scored by a length in 47.30 seconds in his 800m trial on his home track on November 15.
Snowden said Lyric was a good type of colt.
“He’s a strong horse, athletic and has got good natural pace,” he said.
“Just how good he is, for mine you’ve got to see them do it in a race first. Trials and trackwork are one thing but a race is a different thing altogether.”
Lyric will be ridden by Hugh Bowman in a field of seven which includes five debut runners.
John O’Shea has already produced a couple of smart two-year-olds in Faustus and last week’s winner Don’t Blink, and he will have Brave Soul making her debut.
Brave Soul is a More Than Ready half-sister to Solar Charged and finished second to Recess in a Warwick Farm trial on the same day as Lyrics trialled.
The Chris Waller-trained Fundido, an eight length Rosehill trial winner, is also among the entries and is the $2.90 second favourite.
AAP TURF
