Unbeaten hurdler Valac faces his stiffest test when he lines up in the Australian Hurdle at Sandown.
Right from the early days of Tom Dabernig joining his family at Lindsay Park there was a jumper or two in the stable.
Over the years the numbers have dwindled, much to Dabernig’s disappointment, although Lindsay Park has a runner in the Australian Hurdle (3900m) at Sandown on Sunday.
Valac is attempting a third straight since switching to jumps racing after a maiden victory at Hamilton before success in the Champion Novice Hurdle during the Warrnambool carnival.
“He’s owned by an Irish guy who loves his jumps racing,” Dabernig said.
“He raced Jetaway who is now standing as a National Hunt stallion in Ireland that is doing quite well and he’s a good owner for having a jumper, but that’s the hard thing these days, finding the owners that want to have a jumper.
“There’s a lot of people that have gone off it a bit, although there is a group that is passionate about it, but they’re connected to the bigger jumping stables.”
Valac arrived from Ireland a maiden winning on his Australian debut at Benalla in September 2017.
He collected eight flat victories, the latest in 2019 at Mornington at Listed level and Dabernig, who trains in partnership with Ben Hayes, said jumping had given the gelding a new lease on life.
“It’s hard to know where he’ll end up and how successful he will be, but at the moment he looks to be doing a good job,” Dabernig said.
When Valac, a nine-year-old grey gelding, does eventually retire from racing, Dabernig said there should be another role for him in racing.
“He’s getting plenty of attention from the clerk of the course group,” Dabernig said.
“They’ve all got their eyes on him.”
