It’s an ideal partnership … and it didn’t have to be officially ratified for it to be just that.
The Barry Lockwood and Emma-Jane Vincent training partnership is now officially underway (they had their first runners on October 1) but they have already been a formidable team for a number of years … Lockwood, the trainer, as shrewd a judge you are likely to find … and Vincent, ever capable in a strong supporting role … always learning to be better from one of the best.
Now, with both names listed in the racebook, the Lockwood /Vincent team is lining up the appropriately named Battlefield for a crack at a feature race success.
A last start winner, Battlefield is set to tackle twelve rivals in the Tattersalls Members Cup at Eagle Farm on Saturday, the joint feature race on the card.
That last start win came over 1300m in a Class 6 Handicap at Toowoomba and the five-year-old son of Deep Field is now being asked to take on an extra 100m in stronger company.
Weighed up against that though is that Battlefield’s form has been notably progressive since resuming from a seven-month layoff (a second, a third and a first place from his last three starts).
Luke Dempsey, who won on Battlefield at Toowomba and who is often the go-to man for the stable, is riding at the Gold Coast on Saturday, so the Battlefield baton has been passed to Robbie Dolan, who has to be full of confidence after his win aboard Royal Supremacy in the Group 1 Metropolitan at Randwick last Saturday
With Battlefield carrying a nice weight (53kg, eight of his twelve rivals carry more weight) and jumping from a good draw, the six-time winner should be in the race for a long way.
It would be a very popular win if Battlefield was to provide the first winner of the new training partnership, and it would be even more notable if they knocked over a feature race in the process.
