Trainer Kelly Schweida isn’t getting carried away with the hype surrounding boom colt Better Than Ready and will take it one race at a time if the youngster progresses to the Brisbane winter carnival.
Schweida has put together one of this strongest teams since moving from Townsville to Brisbane in 1994 but is still consulting with Better Than Ready’s owners concerning the colt’s immediate future.
“I’m still talking with his owners but the logical choice would be next month’s Ken Russell Classic at the Gold Coast and then the Champagne Classic a fortnight later,” he said.
“Potentially he’s one of the best babies I’ve trained but he’s still got a lot of learning to do.
“He’s nominated for the bigger two-year-old races in the winter but at this stage it’s race by race with him.
“I’ve got a good team together but it’s not necessarily my best. When I first came here in 1994 I had a very good team with horses like Inside Edge, Beyond Space and Easy Dancer.
“They were all very good horses.”
The Listed Ken Russell Classic Memorial (1200m) will be run on May 5 with the Group Two Champagne Classic (1200m) at Doomben on May 19.
Better Than Ready suffered a minor injury when he lost his offside plate in his plunge win at Eagle Farm last Saturday.
The son of More Than Ready was heavily backed from $21 into $2.80 favouritism with TAB Sportsbet on Friday but gave his backers near heart failure when he missed the start and got back in the field.
“I expected him to be up with the leaders but he missed the start slightly and got back,” Schweida.
“He lost his off-front shoe which is probably why he was a bit erratic.
“I’ve had to do some repair work on him after he pulled a fair bit of his hoof away when he lost his shoe.
“I’ve equiloxed the hoof and gave him Monday off and he worked okay this morning.”
Schweida has his fingers crossed that no further setbacks will occur, particularly shin-soreness which is a common problem with two-year-olds.
“I don’t think he’s fully switched on yet and there’s no doubt he’s only going to get a lot better,” he said.
Schweida has several other stars on the rise including Rocker, Cape Kidnappers and Show A Heart filly Discreet, who will soon make her winter comeback.
Rocker made it five wins from seven starts with his narrow victory at Doomben on April 14 while Cape Kidnappers’ Class 6 victory at Eagle Farm on April 9 took his record to four wins from five starts.
Rocker, a son of Fastnet Rock, will run in a Class 6 Plate over 1200 metres at Eagle Farm on Saturday while Cape Kidnappers will start in a Benchmark 90 race over 1000 metres.
