Hobby trainer Wayne Nugent has been forced to lower the bar with Poor Judge who will be a starter at Doomben instead of the Group One Emirates Stakes at Flemington on Saturday.
Nugent, a farrier by trade, was forced to abandon plans to send Poor Judge south when a scheduled flight from Brisbane was overbooked.
“I honestly thought he was up to a race like the Emirates in Melbourne after he won so well last time,” Nugent said.
“I had planned for him to be in Melbourne last week but the flight out of Brisbane was booked up so he had to remain here.”
Poor Judge measured up to spring company in Melbourne last year, winning the Group Three Chatham Stakes on a heavy track at Flemington.
Nugent took over training Poor Judge from fellow Toowoomba trainer Norm Hilton in March but the six-year-old failed to run a place in five previous starts for his new stable before recording his 14th win at Eagle Farm last month.
It was an emotional victory for Nugent who had his share of critics telling him how to train Poor Judge who came to him under suspicion of having leg problems.
Under Hilton, Poor Judge won last year’s Listed Weetwood Handicap before earning a Melbourne trip where he also finished third in the Group One Toorak Handicap at Caulfield.
“I had a few people telling me what to do since I got him and it’s been a roller-coaster ride,” Nugent said.
“When I first got Poor Judge I was told he had a history of leg problems so I had the vet go all over him but we can’t find anything wrong.
“He’s a burly type and I probably went a bit too easy on him when I first got him.
“I think it’s just taken him time to come to his best.”
Nugent blamed a heavy track for Poor Judge’s previous defeat when he finished last to Fillydelphia at Eagle Farm on October 8.
“He’s done really since his last win and he’s come on further so I’m confident he’ll be competitive again,” Nugent said of his assignment in Saturday’s `Perfect Italiano’ Open Hcp (1350m).
“He got a two-kilo penalty for winning last time but he’ll have three kilos coming off this time for (apprentice) Ashley Butler which means he’ll have a kilo less than what he won with last start.”
Nugent’s decision not to send Poor Judge to Melbourne hasn’t altered plans to aim him for next month’s Doomben summer series and the Magic Millions Cup in January.
AAP TURF
