Scottish Dancer may not be the best horse in Victoria but he is proving a good commodity for training newcomer Andrew Bobbin.
Set to run in the VRC Member Michael Kiely Trophy (1600m) at Flemington on Saturday, Scottish Dancer is the star performer of Bobbin’s team.
The five-year-old son of Dream Ahead will be chasing his fourth straight victory having been in Bobbin’s care only this campaign which kicked off in May.
Bobbin has been training less than a year, producing his first runner last November, his first winner at country venue Nhill the following month, while Scottish Dancer was his first metropolitan victory at Caulfield on July 10.
That victory followed wins at Bendigo, at his second start for Bobbin, and over at Murray Bridge.
It will be four weeks since Scottish Dancer had to overcome a wide draw to win over 1700m at Caulfield last time.
The gelding’s task has been made tough again on Saturday with another wide draw.
“We were tempted to step him up to 2000 metres after his last win but I think he’s more effective at the 1600 metres to 1800 metres,” Bobbin said.
“So, four weeks in between runs will not be any issue for him. He’s a horse that is naturally fit. He’s a straight forward horse in regards to keeping the work up to.”
Bobbin said he would not tie rider Jack Hill down with instructions from the wide draw.
He said the gelding can be ridden from anywhere, depending on the tempo.
“Hopefully they run along a little bit,” Bobbin said.
“He lands wherever he needs to be, but I would suggest the likely plan would be back in the back-half somewhere and more than likely out the back, but we’ll leave that up to Jack,” Bobbin said.
“Hopefully Flemington, with that big long straight, will suit us if we are out the back.”
