Tom Dabernig will attempt to keep an unblemished record with stable newcomer Ashford Street when the gelding heads to a sprint race at Caulfield.
Successful at his first start since transferring from fellow Warrnambool trainer Ken Elford, Ashford Street heads to the Manhari Metals Handicap (1100m) on Saturday, chasing successive wins at Caulfield.
Dabernig said Ashford Street was beginning to be a hard horse to place, but long term is looking to Caulfield weight-for-age sprint races in late winter with the galloper.
The Group 3 Sir John Monash Stakes (1100m) on July 13 and the Group 3 Bletchingly Stakes (1200m) two weeks later have been pencilled in.
“He was great winning first-up and now that he’s got that high rating we’ve had to wait for the right race,” Dabernig said.
“It’s ended up a month between runs, but I don’t mind that off a peak first-up run, and we’ve got all winter ahead of us, so I thought that we could take it easy.
“We took him to Terang last Saturday and galloped him on the course proper and he worked really well, and he did a little bit of work on the grass here at Warrnambool on Tuesday.
“He seems very similar as to how he was going into that first-up run, but he’s a horse that doesn’t give you a lot in his trackwork, he’s a little bit lazy.”
Dabernig is unperturbed by the sprinter being drawn out in gate nine of the 12 runners on Saturday.
“He’s such a big powerful horse, and I think the room is probably better for him than being drawn in and cluttered up,” Dabernig said.
“We’ve kept Jaylah Kennedy on with her claim while we’ve still got a claiming race and then if we end up heading towards the Monash or Bletchingly, we may revisit the jockey situation then.
“He likes it wet. It’s a Good 4 at the moment, but there is a little bit of rain forecast, so I think if it gets into that soft range, it should be perfect.”
With the Monash Stakes and Bletchingly Stakes still some time away, Dabernig said he was keeping an open mind on where Ashford Street may next start.
“There is an open sprint down the straight at Flemington in three weeks which could be an in-between run,” Dabernig said.
“He has won down the straight, but he has put in a couple of funny ones there too.
“We know he likes Caulfield, so we’ll concentrate on this run and revisit after that.”
