Damian Browne is bruised and battered but has declared himself fit to ride Missy Longstocking in Saturday’s Calaway Gal Stakes at Eagle Farm.
Browne suffered bruising and a sore shoulder after being thrown from Any Poet in a fall at the Sunshine Coast last Sunday which forced him to miss Wednesday’s Doomben meeting.
“I thought the body could do with a couple of extra days heading into the weekend rather than risk doing more damage by riding at Doomben,” he said.
“I’m not a young fella anymore and I don’t bounce back as well as I should but a couple of extra days and I’ll be right for Saturday.”
Understandably, Browne is keen to retain the ride on Missy Longstocking, arguably Queensland’s best hope of winning next month’s Magic Millions Classic.
“It’s a bit of a step up for her on Saturday but she’s very promising and she looks the right horse for the Magic Millions,” he said.
Missy Longstocking impressed Browne when she thrashed a small field by seven lengths on November 3.
“I’m not too sure if she could’ve gone much quicker because she’s a naturally free-running horse but she carried 58kg and the horse she beat had some good raps on her going into that race,” he said.
“She can be a little bit slow out of the barriers, just half a length or so, but she musters speed very quickly and because that was only her second start you would expect her to get better with that experience under her belt.”
Browne says Missy Longstocking is not a one-dimensional leader and can take a trail in her races.
“She relaxes pretty well so I do think she could take a sit if she had to but in saying that she gathers speed that quickly it’s going to take a fast horse to head her,” he said.
“Hopefully I won’t have to gas her too much to take up a position and her good barrier gives me options if need be.”
Browne rates the Robert Heathcote-trained Greytfilly as Missy Longstocking’s main danger.
“Her win at Doomben was good and I was impressed with the way she hit the line really strongly,” he said.
