Purchased from the Dabernig and Hayes team off the Inglis online auction halfway through the year, the seven-year-old gelding has quickly made a name for himself in the Dale camp and looks set for a big performance in Saturday’s Country Classic at Rosehill.
Having had 23 of his 26 starts in Victoria, Dale was confident that the son of Uncle Mo still had lots to offer when making the transition to his Canberra stables.
“We like to keep our eye out for a tried horse or two throughout the year,” Dale said.
“We thought he looked to still have some solid Saturday grade racing in him.
“We’ve been really happy with his first three runs back. He had his chance first up over the shorter trip and ran a solid third. He drew low gates in his next two and never had a great deal of running room.
“He won’t have that problem tomorrow, he should be able to get a nice free flowing, building-style run and get his chance.”
Dale believes the 400m rise in Saturday’s Country Classic will suit his gelding right down the ground.
“To me, everything has pointed toward him wanting 2000m. I know he’s won up to 1800m in the past,” Dale said.
“It certainly looks like he will handle the 2000m. He’s down in the weights, fourth up – it looks the right time to be trying him at that trip.”
If things weren’t to go to plan for the team on Saturday, Dale acknowledges that putting Blinkers or Winkers on the seven-year-old may assist in achieving the gelding’s maiden win for the stable, having won with both in Melbourne.
During the week, Dale had New King go around on Melbourne Cup Day at Randwick.
Second-up from a spell the Frankel gelding was caught three-wide-without-cover for much of the 1600m journey and still boxed on gamely for third.
“He cruised into the race but it (wide run) just sort of took the dash out of him,” Dale said.
“He was strong again right through the line, it was a good effort.
“He’s building toward a peak performance, and I would imagine in the next couple of weeks he will step up to 1800m and will be hard to beat.”
Also the proud trainer of smart three-year-old filly Pretty Woman, Dale confirmed that the daughter of Written Tycoon would not be seen again this spring and instead be saved until the Autumn.
“She’s going through a growth stage,” Dale said.
“After that Flemington run she was just on the back foot a little bit.
“We were obviously disappointed with her performance down there but when we trialled her, she was well and truly back on the front foot.
“She was just going through an awkward stage through a maturity point of view, and we opted to get her out and give her a good spell as opposed to pressing her further into the spring.”
Without any target races yet mapped out for the talented filly, Dale is certain once she gets some work into her and builds momentum she will be back on the winner’s board in no time.
