Peter Moody is still hurting from Dissident’s narrow loss to Zoustar in the Group One Golden Rose but says if you respect that form then the three-year-old colt has to be a good chance in Saturday’s Caulfield Guineas.
Dissident’s four runs in Sydney in August and September produced three seconds and a sixth in the George Main Stakes, providing a strong lead-up to the spring campaign in Melbourne.
“It was a preparation we mapped out for him,” Moody said.
“We decided to follow the All Too Hard path by running against the older horses at Randwick and he was pretty much without luck the entire prep,” Moody said.
“He was three deep all the way in the Golden Rose, just got nutted by the horse (Zoustar) who won well again, and he didn’t get a lot of room in the George Main Stakes.
“If you respect that form then you have to respect Dissident going into the Guineas.”
While Dissident, to be ridden by Luke Nolen, is regarded as a $10 chance behind the Peter Snowden-trained favourite Long John ($4.40), Moody’s other horse in the race, Weinholt, is down the betting line at $26.
Weinholt will be wearing blinkers for the first time and, according to Moody, worked better at training than the more fancied Dissident.
“I’m looking forward to getting him out to the mile but he has a lot of ground to make up on Long John,” Moody said.
“He can make some of it up but whether he can make enough up, that’s questionable.”
The two last met in the Listed Henry Bucks Stakes at Flemington on September 7 when Long John beat Weinholt home by 2-1/2 lengths.
Moody says whatever the outcome, Weinholt, who finished fifth last start in the Guineas Prelude, will give a good account of himself.
“I’ve got two horses in good form who have continued to improve during the spring and it’s just a matter on how you measure the Sydney form up,” Moody said.
