Greg McFarlane’s career resurrection has happened quicker than he expected.
The trainer returned last year from a two-year disqualification for attempted race-day treatment of a horse in July 2013.
A flag bearer for his successful comeback is Super Tycoon, a horse he will accept with for 1350m and 2000m benchmark races at Rosehill on Saturday.
Super Tycoon will be looking for a third consecutive Sydney Saturday win and McFarlane has a gut feeling he can be extended to middle distance races.
But he is leaning towards waiting to test that theory.
“I’d like to try him over a little bit further in the future,” McFarlane said.
“Whether it be this week or not I don’t think so. It’s more inclined to be at another stage.”
McFarlane trained the gelding’s dam Super Bucks.
He said that had given him insight in how to get the best from Super Tycoon, who he bought as a $25,000 yearling but never took to the races.
“He’s always had the ability there but he’s just a horse that needs confidence,” McFarlane said.
Since returning to his care, Super Tycoon has won four races and been placed three times from 11 starts.
And of McFarlane’s last 18 starters, seven have won.
The former Rosehill trainer is now based at Gosford and credits his new surroundings as key to his recent results.
“We have treadmills, pools, sand tracks, uphill tracks – there’s a lot of variety for the horses there, particularly for strength,” McFarlane said.
“I find a lot of the horses are really benefiting from protocols that we’ve got in place.”
While he hasn’t been counting the wins, McFarlane has been surprised at how quickly his systematic approach has delivered results.
“You give yourself a time frame and you hope that systems start working, but they’re probably working quicker than what we anticipated,” he said.
Super Tycoon was also nominated for the Listed Winter Challenge on Saturday, but McFarlane said he wanted the chance to win more benchmark races while the horse’s rating kept him competitively weighted.
He said after Saturday, Super Tycoon was likely to be sent for a two to three week break before returning to work.
