One-time sprinter Summarise has found a new lease of life as a stayer, all thanks to his swimming skills.
Originally raced by Darley, the Grafton Cup hopeful won two races over sprint trips before he was sold at a reduction sale and bought by clients of Victorian trainer Stephen Theodore late last year.
“I get a lot of tried horses and the first week I get them I start swimming them and try to learn as much as I can with their breathing,” Theodore said.
“He had a great lung capacity, by the end of the first week he was swimming for 15 minutes and he wouldn’t have blown out a candle.
“I don’t ride my horses work so that’s how I determine whether they’re sprinters or stayers.”
Summarise is by Lonhro out of a Flying Spur mare, so not surprisingly some of his owners took convincing that he would make a fist of long-distance racing.
“Everyone thought I had rocks in my head when I said he’d stay,” Theodore said.
“I think Darley did a great job winning two shorter races with him.”
In 11 starts for Theodore, Summarise has posted four wins including last start when he lumped 59kg over 2400m on a heavy Sandown track.
He drops to the 53kg limit on Thursday and should have no trouble with the firmer track as half of his six wins have been on good ground.
The depth of staying talent in Melbourne, coupled with the $150,000 prizemoney on offer in the Grafton Cup (2350m), convinced Theodore to head north despite the 19-hour float trip from his base at Cranbourne.
The four-year-old will be Theodore’s first runner at the July country carnival.
“He’s my first runner at Grafton. I’ve been to Sydney a few times and Queensland a few times and I guess this is smack, bang in the middle,” he said.
Theodore described Summarise’s rails draw as a “dream” and was rapt to secure the services of in-form jockey Jason Taylor who won last month’s Group One Stradbroke Handicap aboard Sincero.
“I had to find a lightweight jockey and given his success in the Stradbroke, well there’s nothing better than a jockey with their tail up,” Theodore said.
Summarise was at $6.50 with TAB Sportsbet on Wednesday with markets headed by the Chris Waller-trained The Verminator at $3.80, just ahead of Shuffle The Cash at $4.
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