Canberra trainer Nick Olive is confident he has chosen the right horse to give him his second Weetwood Handicap winner in three years at Toowoomba on Thursday.
Olive had his first success in the feature sprint when Voice Commander won the 2009 edition and is backing his judgment that Zaratone can repeat the dose.
The $150,000 Listed Weetwood Hcp (1200m) has attracted 13 runners and Olive is confident Zaratone has the pace to cross to the front from gate 10 and lead his rivals a merry chase on the synthetic surface.
“He loves the synthetic tracks and it’s really good money so I thought it would be worth a crack with him,” Olive said.
“Like Voice Commander, that’s the main reason we came up, to race on the synthetic surface.
“I wouldn’t say he’s a better horse than Voice Commander but he’s definitely a faster horse.”
Olive left Canberra with Zaratone by road on Tuesday morning and stopped overnight at Glen Innes before arriving at Steve Tregea’s Toowoomba base on Wednesday afternoon.
Olive enticed Tye Angland north to partner Voice Commander in 2009 and has again gone for a visiting rider on Zaratone with the engagement of Sydney apprentice Taylor Lovelock-Wiggins.
“Taylor rides really well and he’s been going well on the horse so I kept him on – he was the logical choice,” Olive said.
Lovelock-Wiggins has had five rides on Zaratone for four wins with the only defeat coming at his last start when the gelding finished unplaced to Atomic Force, beaten two lengths, at Warwick Farm on March 5.
Prior to that Lovelock-Wiggins had ridden Zaratone to three successive wins, the last two at Rosehill over 1200m and 1100m respectively.
Olive said he was struggling get a line through the local form but was more than happy with Zaratone’s condition.
“He’s going really well and that’s all I can worry about,” he said.
“It’s hard to line the form up but I picked this race out for him a while ago and I’ve got my horse in the best possible condition for the race.”
Olive said the Weetwood assault was a hit-and-run mission regardless of the outcome.
“He’s the only horse I brought up and he’s only having the one run,” he said.
“We’ll be heading straight home without another start.”
AAP TURF
