After a luckless Flemington outing on Melbourne Cup Day, Crestani returns for the Kensington Stakes.
Pat Carey is hoping for a change of fortune when he returns to Flemington with Crestani.
The last time he was at the course with Crestani was on Melbourne Cup day when the gelding finished tenth of the 13 runners in the Grinders Coffee Roasters Handicap (1400m).
It was a horror watch for Carey and those punters that supported Crestani from $19 into $11 as the gelding was held-up for a run the entire length of the Flemington straight after drawing barrier one.
“It was a crying shame his last run,” Carey said.
“He didn’t need a freshen up, but it was enough for me to need a freshen up.
“He was probably the unluckiest horse over the whole Carnival.”
It should be a different scenario for Crestani on Saturday when he lines up in the Listed Kensington Stakes (1000m) when he jumps from barrier 12 in the 14-horse field.
Carey wants to see Crestani get some clean air in Saturday’s race and be running on at the finish while admitting the 1000m race at Listed level was probably not the ideal option.
“It’s not the right race for him as he’s only 76-rated and he’s not a 1000-metre horse,” Carey said.
“But it’s a nice starting point for him. It might line him up for another race down the track.
“He’s still open to plenty of grades, so there’s plenty of races around for him, but this race just looked like it fitted in nicely to start him off.”
Crestani has won four of his 18 starts after starting his career with a maiden win on his home track at Mornington.
He then went winless for 11 months before stringing together three wins from his past seven starts.
The biggest problem for Carey is finding suitable races where Crestani can be competitive while down in the weights.
“He’s not a big horse, so I’ve got to find races where he’s down near the minimum,” Carey said.
