Luke Griffith has asked a lot of Valcot since the sprinter arrived at his stable as a Sydney discard.
But the Scone trainer is willing to try his luck even further as he sets Valcot for a city hat-trick at Randwick on Saturday.
Given up as a metropolitan prospect after a throat operation, Valcot made his way to Griffith with nothing more than bush maiden win against his name.
Yet after 21 starts in 13 months for Griffith, including 10 trips to the races in this latest and best campaign, Valcot is proving to be a worthy stand-in as his best horse Bouzy Rouge spells in preparation for an autumn return.
“Once the older, established horses go out you’re always looking for a couple of young ones to come through and Valcot has done that,” Griffith said.
Valcot scored a city midweek win at Canterbury but went to another level to score for jockey Brenton Avdulla at Randwick.
Now Griffith wants to give Valcot a mini distance test, saying he has a preference for a 1350-metre race over an 1150-metre dash at Randwick. Avdulla keeps the ride.
“He’s come a long way in a year,” Griffith said. “He’s gone from being a class one horse winning at places like Walcha to being a city Saturday-class winner.
“He was a horse who used to jump and go a bit keen but as he’s got older he’s learned to relax a bit better.
“Before he was bit of a 1000-metre horse but now he’s getting over a little bit further.”
Griffith regularly figures in the top 10 list of the state’s best trainers and he is well on the way to a similar result this season.
Thanks training 11 winners since the start of the month, Griffith has moved into seventh place on the NSW table, putting him a strong position to defend the country trainers’ title he won last season.
