Cranbourne trainer Aaron Laing will learn a little more about his stable newcomer Rockribbed who is set to start at Flemington.
A former member of the Ciaron Maher and David Eustace stable, Rockribbed joined Laing’s stabled shortly after the gelding scored at Canterbury in January.
Entered for the VRC Member Rebecca Sutherland Sprint (1200m) on Saturday, Laing has elected to start the five-year-old in the Trevor Clarke Handicap (1000m) instead.
Laing has been enjoying luck with cheap purchases in his stable of 14 in recent months and Rockribbed was picked up for $27,500 from an on-line sale shortly after his Canterbury win.
“He was bought by a couple of stable clients who had a share in one of my tried horses and they had a little bit of success with him, so they went off and bought him on their own accord on-line,” Laing said.
“They got a few of their mates into him and I’ve taken a little share.
“He’s a nice horse and we’ve been chipping away slowly with him, as he’s had a bit of a tendon issue, but it has been manageable, so we’ve been doing our best with it.”
Laing said he gave Rockribbed a short break after he joined his stable before starting the rehabilitation work on the tendon.
With that out of the way, Laing set about getting the gelding into race trim for Saturday and after two jump-outs at Cranbourne, he’s ready to step out.
“I hope our way of managing the tendon is better, but it all comes down to luck, I suppose,” Laing said.
“He’s had one real soft jump-out, then another again last week where we let him travel up under his own steam on a heavy track that he doesn’t really seem to get through, but he looked good that day.”
Laing wants to see Rockribbed settle and finish his race off on Saturday and has taken the Norton Bit from the gelding’s gear that he wore at his last start.
“He was only a $27,500 purchase and some of the prices on-line now are quite big,” Laing said.
“If we can get a win on Saturday, then we’re on our way.”
