Spring will bring out the best in French Derby winner Reliable Man but trainer Chris Waller is clinging to what he concedes is an improbable hope in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Randwick on Saturday.
“He’s a rough chance if the next superstar on the block fails,” Waller said.
The “superstar” is racing’s latest big thing in three-year-old triple crown winner It’s A Dundeel, who has a stranglehold on Queen Elizabeth betting as the $1.35 hotpot.
Already favourite to win this year’s Cox Plate, It’s A Dundeel goes to weight-for-age for the first time after his triple crown campaign culminated in a six-length Australian Derby win a fortnight ago.
Waller is staying true to his word in keeping Reliable Man to a two-start autumn campaign and he will turn the entire out for a spell after Saturday’s 2000m race.
“I think I’ve got an exciting prospect for the spring,” Waller said.
“For that reason I’ve decided to give him a short autumn campaign.”
Bookmakers think Reliable Man is not a total lost cause against It’s A Dundeel with early markets having him sharing the second line of betting at $8 with New Zealand mare Silent Achiever.
In fact, Reliable Man, on an encouraging first-up midfield placing in the George Ryder Stakes, is at a shorter quote than Waller’s previous Queen Elizabeth winner My Kingdom of Fife.
Like Reliable Man, My Kingdom Of Fife was having his second Australian run when he beat Doncaster Mile winner Sacred Choice in 2011.
Since his French Derby win in the same year, Reliable Man has raced against the cream of Europe’s middle-distance horses, finishing fourth at Royal Ascot to So You Think in last year’s Prince Of Wales’s Stakes.
Over an unsuitable 1500m in the George Ryder, Reliable Man ran on resolutely to be beaten 1-1/2 lengths into sixth placing behind Pierro.
