In-form sprinter Second Effort will step into the unknown when he has his first start at Flemington in Saturday’s Straight Six under equal topweight of 60 kilograms.
The five-year-old carried 56kg to both his first-up win over 1000m on his home track at Caulfield on April 7 and again when he edged out Wealth Princess in the Listed Wangoom Hcp (1200m) at Warrnambool on May 2.
“This is his first try up the straight. I think he’ll handle it but you never know until you run them so that is something we will learn about and if he does it gives us a few more options, trainer Clinton McDonald said.
“He’s done very well. He looks great and his work has been really solid.
“He had a serious gallop on Saturday morning and worked well and he’ll go to the races in good order.
McDonald said the 1200m Straight Six would be either the second last or final run of the horse’s campaign.
“He’ll go to the paddock and come back for race like the Monash, Bletchingly and the Liston (P B Lawrence) and the Memsie,” he said.
“I’m really keen to get him to 1400 metres and I think he’ll relish it.
“He ran third in the Chester Manifold on a firm track during the summer and he probably should have won it.
“If he can into races like the Liston or the Memsie on soft tracks I think he would be very competitive.”
The gelding has won eight of his 19 starts but is unbeaten in seven rain-affected track outings – five on slow and two on heavy.
“He’s a good little horse. He’s a real competitor,” McDonald said.
Second Effort will again be ridden by Danny Nikolic who has won four races on him including the Wangoom.
McDonald said the Wangoom was a strong race with Stanzout, who finished seventh, running a solid fourth behind superstar Black Caviar in Group One The Goodwood (1200m) at Morphettville on Saturday.
Equal topweight is the Colin and Cindy Alderson-trained Perturbo who was beaten a half head when runner-up to Dubleanny in the race last year under 53kg.
