As Canberra trainers wait to find out if they will be able to continue to run horses in Highway races, Keith Dryden and Scott Collings will try to coax a win out of Prince Jacko at Rosehill.
Racing NSW will meet with the Canberra Racing Club next week to clarify whether the local trainers should be classed as provincial or country.
In the meantime, Prince Jacko will travel to Sydney on Saturday while he is still eligible for the Highway Hcp (1100m) for country-trained horses.
Tired of the winless four-year-old copping the top weight, or close to it, Dryden is looking for a level playing field.
“I’ve decided to put him in something where he can get a bit of weight relief. He can run good times but the benchmark system has him weighed down with 59 (kg) all the time,” Dryden said.
“He keeps getting beat – just beat – but they never drop him.”
Prince Jacko has run second five times, three times by short margins.
“He can run the times of other horses that win races so my theory is maybe he’s just getting bogged down by the weight,” Dryden said.
“He’s probably at the end of his prep, this is his eighth run, but I want to see if he finishes off good with no weight on his back.”
Prince Jacko has 54.5kg and apprentice Andrew Adkins can claim another 1.5kg to produce a significant downgrade on his usual restriction.
Dryden and Collings also have three-year-old filly Star Aspiration in the 12-strong field.
She broke her duck two races ago at Canberra and also has two placings from her six starts.
“This one seems to have a bit of ability if I can keep her nice and relaxed,” Dryden said.
