Peter Moody has the favourite in three races at Caulfield as he closes in on 100 Melbourne winners for the season.
With the trainers’ premiership already in the bag for the second year in a row, Moody is on 96.5 wins and has five city meetings remaining to reach the milestone.
Only Lee Freedman and David Hayes have topped 100 city winners in Melbourne and Moody’s haul is already 13.5 better than his tally a year ago.
The first of Moody’s six Caulfield runners on Saturday is two-year-old debutant Infinite Energy who is at $4.60 with TAB Sportsbet in the Wellington Racing Club Inglis Bonus (1000m).
Premier jockey Luke Nolen will ride the son of Flying Spur but, while Moody expects him to be competitive and a chance to collect a $100,000 Inglis bonus, he would have preferred his chances in a country maiden to kick-off his career.
Apprentice Daniel Stackhouse has been trusted with Moody’s other two favourites, Ben Zena ($4.60) in the Slickpix Hcp (1400m) and Mr Make Believe ($2.60) in the BMW Hcp (1400m).
Moody’s back-up runners in the Slickpix are Nolen’s mount White Universe ($5.50) and Blades Of Glory ($15) to be ridden by Dwayne Dunn.
Nolen will also ride Sheedy ($8.50) in the BMW Hcp.
Mr Make Believe missed last week’s Winter Championship Final when an emergency but Moody believes it could be a blessing after a hard-fought win at Moonee Valley the previous week.
“He had a very solid run at Moonee Valley the week before so I think he’s going to appreciate the fortnight between runs and I also think he’ll be well suited by the 1400 around Caulfield,” Moody said.
Moody said Sheedy was at peak fitness and well drawn (barrier four) to get a good run just off the pace.
In the Slickpix, Moody makes a case for all his runners.
“Ben Zena’s been in very good form and seems to be holding condition, Blades Of Glory was very disappointing first-up but has blinkers on and has pleased us on the training track since and White Universe is a progressive type of horse who is probably looking for slightly further, but he’ll get back and be strong late,” Moody said.
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