Now that Bel Burgess has struck form his trainer Michael Roebuck is hoping it is the start of another winning streak.
The Geelong-trained gelding will be out to add to last month’s Wodonga Cup success when he runs in Saturday’s NJT20cricket.com.au Handicap (1500m) at Moonee Valley.
Bel Burgess strung together four wins in succession during February, March and April this year, including one over 1533m at Moonee Valley.
The sequence ended when Bel Burgess finished second to Burning Front in the $250,000 VOBIS Gold Mile at Caulfield in April.
That race is the long range plan again for Bel Burgess but first there’s Saturday’s race with a return to Moonee Valley on the agenda on January 26.
“If he was to run well on Saturday there’s a VOBIS Gold race at Moonee Valley in around four weeks,” Roebuck said.
“Because he’s a VOBIS Gold horse, the ultimate race we’re looking at is the race he ran second in behind Burning Front at Caulfield in April.
“He’ll have this run and maybe one other and then have a freshen up for that race.
“I’m not sure what path we’ll take but that will be his ultimate goal.
“Probably last time we weren’t as seasoned as we are now and we pretty much rode him to run second, so hopefully it will be different this time around.”
Bel Burgess will be having the fifth start of his current campaign and Roebuck said no notice should be taken of his first two starts.
He was held up after a slow beginning first-up and then had a high white cell count which contributed to his poor showing at Caulfield.
After a solid showing over an unsuitable journey at Ararat, Roebuck went into the Wodonga Cup confident of success.
With Bel Burgess to carry top weight of 60kg on Saturday, Roebuck has engaged apprentice Ethan Brown for the ride, taking 2kg off.
“He’s carried between 58.5 (kilos) and 60.5 and won in lesser grade,” Roebuck said.
“He carries weight so that shouldn’t be too much of a concern.
“He can sit up on the pace and give a good kick and I think he’ll give this a good shot.”
