Trainer Simon Zahra is aware of the task confronting Don’t Hope Do when he returns to Stakes level at Moonee Valley.
The now five-year-old, who runs in the Listed Carlyon Stakes (1000m) on Saturday, has not contested a Black Type race since finishing sixth in the Group 3 Blue Sapphire Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield in November 2023.
That was Don’t Hope Do’s third career start and followed up a third placing behind Archo Nacho and Maharba in the Group 3 Red Anchor Stakes (1200m) at Moonee Valley on Cox Plate Day in 2023 which came on top of a debut maiden win at Bendigo.
A lot of water has gone under the bridge since, and Zahra has not lost faith in the sprinter, although he concedes Saturday’s assignment won’t be easy.
Don’t Hope Do is jumping from a benchmark 74 victory a fortnight ago to a Listed race, and he will be jumping from the extreme outside draw in the nine-horse field.
“He hasn’t drawn the best and probably needed to draw a bit more favourably to be really competitive, but he’s going well,” Zahra said.
“He wasn’t screwed down the other day and he had 59-½ kilos, and we thought he would improve off it with the run.
“I’ve always had a good opinion of him, but there’s not a lot of options around for him.
“There’s a (benchmark) 78 at Sandown next week and a Group 3 the following week (at Caulfield) while Sydney is under water.
“Options for these sorts of horses in that middle range are limited, so we’ll see what happens.”
Don’t Hope Do’s career has been restricted to 10 starts to date due to a couple of minor setbacks after his initial three starts.
“He had a growth on the back of his knee,” Zahra said.
“They had to chip it off and then suck it out. It was like a shark tooth pinching into him.
“We got him going again, then he got crook, and then there were no races for him after he won at Ballarat, so we gave him a good break.
“He’s mature now and there is a nice race in him somewhere over the spring, but it’s just finding the right race for him.
“If you’ve got a rating like his at this time of year, they’re not easy to place.”
