Obvious will be chasing what two months ago seemed an unlikely Finals Day victory when he looks to make it back-to-back wins at Flemington this Saturday.
The Greg Eurell-trained gelding goes around in the Silver Bowl Final, a 1600-metre event for three-year-olds.
The son of Toronado became a leading contender for the Silver Bowl after victory in a heat on June 20, which followed a second placing at Caulfield on May 30, performances that Eurell was relieved to see given what he produced at his previous two starts.
Obvious ran last at Sandown on April 6 and again at Mornington 12 days later and Eurell attributes a freshen as Monomeith Stud for his late-season revival.
“It was hard to work it out, he led into those runs in his usual manner and then he just failed to fire a shot,” Eurell said.
“So we thought we’d give him a freshen up and send him down to Monomeith on the water walker.
“Then we just brought him back in and we’re doing a bit with him, gave him a jumpout, the jumpout was good, so we thought, ‘oh well, we’ll go again.”
Obvious’ Caulfield second placing, when beaten three-quarters-of-a-length, was behind Clevor Trever, who is a key rival this week, while a number of Silver Bowl rivals were among the beaten brigade last start.
Obvious carried 52.5kg to victory at Flemington thanks to Luke Cartwright’s claim, but jumps to 57.5kg in this week’s non-claiming race with Eurell happy to keep the winning rider aboard.
“He gets a bit of a penalty weight-wise after the win, but I think he’s in great shape and the beauty of him is he can handle any surface.”
Obvious drew barrier seven in the 13-horse Silver Bowl Final, in which he shares the second line of betting with Lucky Lucky Boom behind Clevor Trever.
