Brett Dodson-trained Parksville is set to resume in the Vinery Stud Handicap (1100m) at Kensington on Wednesday, with the hope of attracting a Kosciuszko ticket holder.
The lightly raced son of Vancouver is only in his second racing preparation but showed plenty of ability stringing together a hat-trick of wins before spelling.Those three wins were dominant, including a 2.5 length romp over The Kosciuszko distance of 1200m at his home track of Coffs Harbour in February. With the $1.3 million country feature in the back of Dodson’s mind, he said showing what Parksville can do against city class horses is a driving factor for his first-up assignment on Wednesday.
“So far, he’s only raced against country horses and that’s probably another reason why I wanted to take him down there, to step him up to a mark with a few of the city runners down there,” he said.
“It’s midweek, but they’re very hard to win races down there, especially against horses in his race which have probably won five or six races and are couple hundred thousand (dollars).”It’s a good test for him and it’s something I wanted to step him up to.
“If he can race well against those city class horses, well he’s going to be attractive to someone in that all country race.”
Dodson has bypassed a number of races for his four-year-old gelding, showing his confidence in Parksville to perform against the city-trained gallopers.
The Coffs Harbour-based trainer elected to not race in an Open Showcase Handicap on his hom track on Thursday and is bypassing Highway company to race on Wednesday.
But due to a missed trial, Dodson said the Highway first-up could have proved too much for the gelding.
“He was going to go to the Highway last week, but we were a little bit behind with him,” he said.
“I just thought jumping him up to the 1200m first-up when I’d missed a trial a few weeks ago, just due to him getting balloted out, I just thought it might be a little bit too much for him.
“I was going to take him to Brisbane on Saturday, then with all the restrictions the border closed.
“With the Kosciuszko later in mind later on down the track, I wanted to showcase him down in Sydney.
“I wanted people to have a look at him and hopefully he can put his best foot forward, which I’m expecting him to run really well and obviously attract a Kosciuszko slot holder.”
Parksville won a recent trial at Coffs Harbour by 6.54 lengths, doing it all under his
He was dealt a cruel blow when the four-year-old drew barrier 10, with Josh Parr in the saddle.
Dodson said he’s returned from his spell in much better shape.
“(It was a) very impressive trial, as he’s probably done previously,” he said.
“He’s a horse that has a fair share of ability and even though the draw wasn’t favourable, I think he’s got enough speed to overcome it.
“I think it’s pretty obvious from his trial that he’s a little bit stronger and in think he’s a lot more mature.
“I’m happy with the way he’s progressed, and I think he’s come back even better.”
Parksville is currently a $4 chance on Wednesday and a $26 chance for the $1.3 million The Kosciuszko with tab.com.au.
