Michael Kent Jnr admits to concerns with Inundation’s wide draw in Saturday’s $130,000 Neds Money Back Odds Handicap (1100m), but he is taking confidence from his most recent win.
That was at Caulfield, also the venue for this weekend’s race, when he overcame barrier 10 in a field of 13 to win eased down by three lengths.
The three-year-old has drawn the outside barrier in Saturday’s field of 11 and goes up 2.5kg, but Kent is pleased to have at least seen him overcome such obstacles.
“From the outside draw we were a bit hesitant to really tip him last start but the way he was able to negate that wide barrier in a matter of strides, travel comfortably at a fast speed without overdoing it and then put them away was impressive,” he said.
“That was a good win but it’s a very different test of Saturday again. I would have loved to have seen him draw a touch kinder and you weren’t worrying about where he was going to end up.
“There’s a fair bit of speed in the race, but he’s a speed horse and Jye (McNeil) knows him well now.
“At Caulfield, out of the chute there, hopefully things work out for us and he’s not having to over-rev early on and he’s got something there at the finish.”
Inundation will carry 56.5kg in the race that also includes the speedy Jigsaw (60kg) and Chris Waller-trained Moonee Valley winner Plagiarized (54kg) as he strives for a fourth-straight win of the campaign.
The Headwater gelding’s Caulfield win was preceded by a 3-1/4-length win in BM58 grade at Pakenham, which followed a 3-1/2-length Mornington maiden win.
He is the one odds-on favourite on the Caulfield card and Kent said it was most likely the last time racegoers would see Inundation this campaign.
“I think he’s a horse we’d look after, we’d probably look to put him away after this with no ambition to shortcut a spell for the spring,” Kent, who trains in partnership with Mick Price, said.
“We’ll just look after him and come back next prep and hopefully go through the grades a bit more.”
