Areprice primed to strike in Sunshine Coast feature

The David Murphy trained Areprice will line up as a lively contender in the Bruce McLachlan Classic, a QTIS Two-Year-Old contest over 1000m, which will be decided at the Sunshine Coast on Saturday.

The son of Better Than Ready has yet to run a bad race in his four career starts to date.

He kicked off with as solid a debut win as any set of connections could wish for, trouncing his opposition over 1110m at Doomben, coming home a full five lengths clear of his nearest rival, saluting at what turned out to be very generous odds of $7.

Franking the merit of that win is the fact that I’lltellyouanytime, who finished second there, came out and won two starts later.

Areprice’s second start, in which he understandably started as a short-priced favourite off the back of his first-up demolition job, resulted in a close-up third place finish … just a length behind the winner … in the far more competitive QTIS Jewel Prelude Two-Years-Old Colts and Geldings Handicap over 1000m at Eagle Farm.

The winner on that occasion was the Tony Gollan trained Boomtowns, who would go on to finish fourth in the Group 2 Spirit Of Boom Classic over the Queensland Winter Carnival which again puts Areprice’s run in a positive perspective.

After a three month break from race action, Areprice resumed with a fourth placing in the $1 million Magic Millions Two-Year-Old Classic over 1000m at the Gold Coast. That race was won by the very smart The Next Episode, a Ciaron Maher trained son of Snitzel who had won the Listed Dalrello in the race leading into his Gold Coast assignment … so Areprice’s standing lost nothing in that defeat.

Areprice then duly maintained his consistent level of performance second-up, in his last start, again finishing in a close-up third place in the Listed Oxlade, when coming home just under a length behind the winner Cool Gent.

During all of this time Areprice has been adding race experience to his armoury and now, third-up, and all the fitter for his last two outings, he could well be ready to strike and claim a second career victory.

Jordan Childs rode the Murphy trained runner in the two starts he has had since resuming, but on Saturday the reins have been handed to the 2kg claiming apprentice Corey Sutherland, in a race in which a favourable 2kg pull at the weights could ultimately prove to be a decisive advantage.

Areprice is currently on the second line of betting at $4.80 … behind the $3.90 race favourite Tengun Tommy, a Tony Gollan trained runner who is a last start winner.