Having rediscovered winning form this preparation, enigmatic gelding Green Shadows will chase back-to-back victories for the first time since launching his career.
The five-year-old ended a two-year hiatus from the winner’s enclosure when successful first-up at Warwick Farm in April then rebounded from a handful of unplaced runs to again get his nose in front in a Midway Handicap (1600m) last start.
Co-trainer Gerald Ryan believes the horse has taken confidence from his most recent win and can prove tough to beat again in the Toyota Forklifts Handicap (1600m) at Randwick on Saturday.
“He’s trained on well and he got a bit of confidence out of that win,” Ryan said.
“It’s a tad harder here. He won first-up at Warwick Farm then had a couple of runs on heavy tracks and from bad barriers.
“But he has run at a good level all his life, he’s been thrown in the deep end a few times and just couldn’t find the winning post.”
Green Shadows has a solid record at Randwick where he has raced five times and missed a top-five finish only once.
With James Mcdonald riding Chris Waller-trained rival Yasuke, Tommy Berry has picked up the mount on Green Shadows with Josh Parr aboard stablemate Deficit who lines up in the same race.
Tested as a stayer last campaign, Deficit was far from disgraced when getting within a half-length of Naval College in the Listed Australia Day Cup (2400m) in January before returning with a pair of even efforts over unsuitable distances in June.
Ryan felt those heavy track runs took their toll at his most recent start when the horse tailed out and he has freshened Deficit for Saturday’s assignment on an improving track.
“His first two runs on heavy tracks were good, then they might have flattened him a bit when I ran him his last start because he didn’t go a yard,” Ryan said.
“We freshened him up and he had a couple of weeks without the saddle on and on the treadmill, in the pool. He appears to be going alright again.”
