Mike Moroney says Sabrage is right to run in Friday night’s Group Two Bill Stutt Stakes at Moonee Valley after he had to be scratched from the Caulfield Guineas Prelude last Saturday.
The Flemington trainer said the colt ripped a tooth out when he grabbed hold of the mesh in his box at Moroney’s Flemington stables.
“We had to send him to (Melbourne University Veterinary Clinic) Werribee to get it wired back in,” Moroney said.
“He had an anaesthetic and because we had to treat him he couldn’t run at Caulfield.”
The Charge Forward colt, a $200,000 Sydney’s Easter yearling, is out of Maroof mare Galroof, making him a half-brother to last Saturday’s Group One Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes runner-up Pinnacles.
Sabrage has raced three times for a 1200m win at Caulfield at his race debut on a heavy track last May.
He resumed with a last to Amah Rock in the Mitchell McKenzie Stakes (1200m) at Moonee Valley last month and a fourth to Specter in the Henry Bucks Stakes (1400m) at Flemington on September 3.
The colt galloped at Moonee Valley on Monday with Damien Oliver in the saddle, working outside stablemate Devonshire Duke.
“He worked well. Strangely enough he’s a Charge Forward but the more I see him the more I think he’s going to stay,” Moroney said.
“I trained his mum (Galroof) and she ran second in a Queensland Derby and probably should have won a Doomben Cup (when runner-up to Mr Bureaucrat in 2002) but a mile-and-a-quarter (2000m) was her best go.
“Ollie (Oliver) said he feels like a mile-and-a-quarter horse too.
“He’s a gorgeous horse and we’ll run him in the Caulfield Guineas and give him a (Victoria) Derby preparation if he looks like staying.”
The Stutt Stakes (1600m) has attracted 13 entries including the unbeaten Peter Moody-trained gelding Moment Of Change, last-start Moonee Valley 1500m winner Whisper Downs and the promising Chase The Rainbow.
Trainer Rick Hore-Lacy scratched Chase The Rainbow from the Group Three Guineas Prelude (1400m), won by Helmet, because of a track upgrade.
Hore-Lacy was concerned about Chase The Rainbow on a track he said was too hard for the three-year-old.
AAP TURF
