Rich On Bubbles tests rising credentials in Valley Pearl tilt

The well named Rich On Bubbles (Capitalist – Champagne Boom) will go out in search of a third successive win when he tackles the Valley Pearl over 1200m at Caulfield on Saturday.

The Ben, Will and J D Hayes trained gelding is unbeaten in two starts this preparation, having saluted in a Two-Year-Old Maiden Plate when resuming over 1000 at Pakenham by a relatively narrow margin, before upping the ante in emphatic fashion when landing the Magic Millions 2YO Classic over 1110m at Murray Bridge by a 4.10 length margin … that gap back to the second placed runner Cliff Runner emphasising the progress the son of Capitalist is making at this time.

Rich On Bubbles’ only defeat came before a four month break from race action when he failed to be competitive in the Listed Maribyrnong Trial Stakes at Flemington over 1000m back on October 4.

He appears to have turned a corner since then, but Saturday’s run at Caulfield represents a new challenge, being at a metropolitan meeting in town with the distance test going up to 1200m.

The Hayes trained runner, who will face only six opponents on Saturday, will come into the race as the most experience runner in the lineup with three runs behind his name.

Three of his rivals have raced only once before, two of which … Cyclotron and Fawlty Affairs … both finished runner-up in their respective debuts … and it should be noted that the runner who finished unplaced on debut in this group, the Clinton McDonald trained Nikitria, did kick off in Listed company.

The other three runners are all unraced.

Just as Rich On Bubbles has shown improvement, with the benefit of a run behind them, the same can be expected from Cyclotron and Fawlty Affairs, particularly as they represent two very astute training partnerships in the form of Tony and Calvin McEvoy and Richard and Will Freedman respectively.

Of the three unraced runners, the John McCardle trained Myhro’s Ruler has won two out of three jump-outs … the Cindy Alderson trained Blue And Gold has had two-jump-outs and the Michael Hickmott trained White Pointer has had two jump-outs and a trial, finishing first on two of those occasions.

While Rich On Bubbles tops the betting boards at $2.75, it does seem to be a fairly open betting race with five of the seven runners quoted at odds of $7 or under.