If he had his time over again trainer Mick Kent would do things differently with Oncidium Ruler.
Kent was caught out by the rain ahead of the Ballarat Cup which resulted in a heavy track when Oncidium Ruler finished second to Grand Dreamer on November 25.
Oncidium Ruler, coming off a Flemington win on the final day of the Melbourne Cup carnival, was using the Ballarat Cup as a stepping stone to Saturday’s 2500m Pakenham Cup.
Kent wasn’t expecting heavy ground which happened because of a downpour after the running of the first two races.
Driving from his Cranbourne stables to Ballarat, Kent was thinking how testing the race might become and whether he should have given the stayer a little more work.
“He had a really hard run at Flemington so I didn’t do lots with him after that,” Kent said.
“If you knew you were going to have a heavy track coming up you set them up differently and do a bit more aerobic work with them.
“The Pakenham Cup is the race we were aiming for and he was going to Ballarat to do his best on what looked like being a good track.
“When it got wet I thought I wished I had done a bit more aerobic work with while leaving room for a little more improvement.
“He’s been good since and I think the 2500 metres will suit him.”
Oncidium Ruler is one of 16 nominations for Saturday’s Listed race that carries $250,000 prize money.
Other nominations include Darabad, De Little Engine, Dodging Bullets, Grey Lion, I’m A Princess and Ormito.
Kent said Beau Mertens was likely to ride Oncidium Ruler having ridden the gelding in all three runs this campaign.
While winless at Sandown on Saturday where he had one runner, Kent left the track satisfied.
Stable apprentice Ethan Brown had his claim reduced to 2kg when successful on Mrs Gardenia who defeated Heavenly Descent ridden by Kent’s former apprentice Beau Mertens who retains his links to Kent.
Another stable apprentice Stephanie Thornton ran third on Fudged.
“I got something for the day,” Kent said.
