Encouraged by Gamblestown’s third at Randwick, trainer Joe Pride will step him up in distance on a quick back-up as he tries to coax an overdue win from the seven-year-old.
Gamblestown finished a frustrating third in a photo-finish over 1600 metres on Saturday behind Positive Problems and Medaille, beaten a nose and a short half head.
Pride entered him for the Maroubra Mile and the benchmark 80 race over 1800 metres and said the latter looked the better option for Gamblestown.
“The mile race looks too hard for him and the way he ran on Saturday I think he should be able to run the 1800,” Pride said.
“He hasn’t been over that distance since I’ve had him but it don’t think it will be a problem.”
When he was trained by the late Guy Walter, Gamblestown was tried over 2000m in the 2014 Frank Packer Plate but has yet to win beyond 1400m.
With a benchmark of 81, he is the highest rated of the 14 entries in Saturday’s race ahead of the Kris Lees-trained Olympic Academy on 79.
Nominations for the Maroubra Mile have been extended until Tuesday with nine entered on Monday headed by the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained Supply And Demand.
Group One winner Japonisme and his Chris Waller-trained stablemates New Universe and Liapari are also in the mix.
A dual stakes winner of the Grafton and Caloundra Cups, Supply And Demand finished a long last in the Group One Railway Stakes in Perth in late November after running wide and pulling up lame.
He returned to Sydney and a month later finished a close third over 1400m at Warwick Farm in a three-way photo-finish.
New Universe is also entered for the 1400m-benchmark 85 along with former French horse George Patton who is scheduled to have his first start for trainers Peter and Paul Snowden.
George Patton finished fourth in the French Derby and was sent to Hong Kong in late 2016.
He had four barrier trials for trainer Tony Cruz but did not make it to the races.
In his only barrier trial in Sydney, George Patton finished second to Egyptian Symbol last Friday week.
