Emerging star Straight Albert can lift his profile even higher with victory in Thursday’s Gosford Cup.
Since joining Guy Walter’s stable in the spring, Straight Albert has won three of five starts and passed his first test over a distance when he won the Tattersall’s Club Cup (2095m) last Monday.
The Listed race was his first victory at stakes level and he will carry 55.5kg in an attempt to win his second in the 2100m Gosford feature.
The four-year-old is raced by his breeder Brian Turton and came to Walter with three wins on tracks out of town.
He had to fight hard to beat Winning Glory in the Tatt’s Cup at Warwick Farm, something that added further merit to his achievement.
“The way he was racing over 1600 metre convinced us he was looking for further,” Walter said.
“He is a lovely horse to deal with and he showed his quality when he fought back at Warwick Farm.
“And he did finish second to Tullamore in a race at Scone before I got him.”
The Gai Waterhouse-trained Tullamore went on to run third in the Caulfield Cup.
King Lionheart will represent Waterhouse at Gosford after finishing fourth in the Tatt’s Cup.
He is topweight with 59.5kg while Straight Albert has 55.5kg, 1-1/2 kilos more than he carried at Warwick Farm.
The Gosford meeting is the first of six twilight fixtures to be held over the summer which the club hopes will be a forerunner to night racing at the Central Coast track.
The New Year’s Eve meeting at Gosford attracted a record crowd of 8000, considerably more than attended Rosehill on the same day.
The club has snared iconic Australian band Mental As Anything to provide entertainment after the last race on Thursday.
But the most popular attraction could be 14-year-old Mustard who local trainer John McNair has entered in the 1100m sprint.
Mustard has a cult following in Sydney and has been racing well recently without winning.
“It’s a bit short but it would really be something if he could win at Gosford,” McNair said.
“He is obviously coming to the end of his career so there won’t be too many opportunities.”
The final fields for the meeting will be declared on Tuesday morning.
AAP TURF
