Results so far haven’t matched the hype about Quick Peek but Anthony Cummings still has one of the autumn’s richest races in his sights.
Quick Peek will be asked to make a quantum leap from a midweek defeat to Group Three level in the Liverpool City Cup at Warwick Farm on Saturday and Cummings is unperturbed by the rise in class.
“He’s a bit of a bull at a gate sometimes but once he learns his caper and gets hold of it he’s going to be up to Group One standard I think,” Cummings said.
“(He has) a lot of raw talent, it’s just that he doesn’t know how to use it yet.”
Cummings hasn’t been afraid to show the racing world just what he thinks of the sparingly-raced four-year-old.
A win on debut in a Ballarat maiden was followed by a Cranbourne restricted class victory.
It was then straight into the silk department on the first day of the Melbourne Cup carnival and Cummings took plenty of confidence from Quick Peek’s seventh – less than three lengths from the winner Whitefriars – in the Group Two Salinger Stakes.
“As much as everything went right at his first couple of starts, everything has gone wrong at every start since,” Cummings said.
“I’m hoping he gets it right this time and he can show his true ability.”
Quick Peek, a Rodney Quinn mount, is a $2 million Doncaster Mile (1600m) entry and he is a $301 chance in pre-post betting with TAB Sportsbet.
“I’ve always thought he would get to the mile (distance) and I think this race (on Saturday) is a nice step in the right direction,” Cummings said.
The Liverpool City Cup winner escapes the Doncaster Mile ballot and it has attracted 17 acceptors.
In a wide market, Triple Elegance ($4.20) and Pinwheel ($4.80) are vying for favouritism ahead of Graceful Anna ($6.50) with Quick Peek a $15 chance.
Cummings will also saddle up one of the outsiders Shadows In The Sun ($71), a three-year-old who was luckless against his own age when resuming.
The Randwick trainer will also welcome back stable warhorse Zavite when the stayer resumes in the Chipping Norton Stakes.
The winner of more than $2 million in stakes, Zavite will be first-up since finishing well down the track in the Melbourne Cup.
“This campaign he’ll be out to right a few wrongs from last year’s BMW and Sydney Cup,” Cummings said.
AAP TURF
