All you can do as a trainer is get your horse to where you want it to be for a big race and then the race itself will tell you if the horse is good enough to land the desired result.
That is exactly what trainer Kurt Goldman has done with the five-year-old chestnut mare Arts Object, who will be looking to make it back-to-back wins in $500,000 The Wave at The Gold Coast on Saturday.
“I am confident in terms of having the horse where I want her to be,” said Goldman.
“It obviously was always the design to have her peak on the big day and I just feel that, so far, everything has gone to plan. I can’t fault the horse … can’t fault the preparation … and the race just looks like it should pan out perfectly for her.
“She had those two runs in December,” continued Goldman, “and she has progressed well since then. They were obviously lead-up runs. Anything she did in those was just going to be an added bonus.
“She has continued to strip fitter as she has moved towards her Grand Final.”
There was certainly an added bonus in those two runs with Arts Object winning the Listed Tails Stakes over 1500m at Doomben on December 7 and finishing fourth behind Gold Bullion in the Listed Member’s Mile at Eagle Farm on December 21 over 1600m.
Those runs saw Arts Object pocket $101,750 in prize-money while also allowing her the benefit of a continuing steady step up in distance from the 1350m (which she tackled in her first-up run this preparation in November) to the 1500m and 1600m … and now to the 1800m test of The Wave.
The seemingly always in-form Angela Jones, who rode Arts Object to the big race victory last year … as well as in all of Arts Objects three runs this preparation, will again take the reins.
When Arts Object won The Wave in 2024, she won at a starting price of $51 with betting apps. When she won the Tail Stakes in December, she won at a starting price of $41.
While the odds of Arts Object winning The Wave this time are not so generous, they are still in double figures.
The warning from the past is clear to see though.
Do not dismiss Arts Object’s chances lightly.
