Adelaide trainer Travis Doudle is making the first of what he hopes will be a number of raids in Melbourne during the winter months.
Recent stable acquisition Showrunner lines up in the Sir Henry Bolte Handicap (2000m) at Flemington on Saturday which will give Doudle a gauge as to whether he is dreaming or has realistic ambitions.
A former NSW-trained galloper in the care of Paul Messara and Leah Gavranich, Showrunner has had one start for Doudle, winning at Balaklava on April 25.
At the very least, Doudle expects Showrunner to be a money spinner in Adelaide, but while the gelding is a three-year-old he wants to try and maximise his earning potential early.
“He’s a nice horse and just while he’s a three-year-old he’s got plenty of upside,” Doudle said.
“I feel we could win a race in Adelaide with him, but we’ve only got a few months of the three-year-old season left and I want to capitalise on it.
“We want to test him over 2000 metres at Flemington as a three-year-old and if he runs well enough, we can keep him going over there for the rest of the season.
“If not, we can come back here, and I think he’s Adelaide city class at a minimum, so it’s worth taking a shot at.”
An on-line purchase, Showrunner got out of the blocks early for Doudle and connections.
But Doudle expects Showrunner as his racing career continues, having only had six starts, to continually improve.
“We didn’t pay a lot of money for him, and we only had him for a month before he won for us, so it was really good to see him do that,” Doudle said.
“Everything he does, he keeps on improving and his previous trainers did a great job with him, but I think with time, he’ll keep getting better.
“If he shows he can get the trip on Saturday, it opens up races during the series and there’s big dollars for the final for a horse that we did not pay a lot of money for.”
Linda Meech, who partnered Doudle’s Warrnambool May Carnival winner Not Usual Glorious to victory, has the ride on Saturday.
