Tamworth trainer Lesley Jeffriess hopes a belated decision to start Stretch at Muswellbrook on Saturday comes up trumps.
It was only when nominations were extended that Jeffriess elected to back up Stretch in the Markey Insurance Benchmark 55 Hcp (2300m).
“He’s done very well and there’s no reason he can’t go around again,” Jeffries said.
“He’s come off his Armidale win in good order.”
Stretch led throughout to beat stablemate Heistmaster by a long neck in a 1900m Benchmark 55 event at Armidale on February 10 with the result surprising Jeffriess.
“On their work I must admit I favoured Heistmaster but Stretch kept kicking back after doing all the hard work up front,” Jeffriess said.
“It was a good strong performance.”
Stretch, got for $16,000 as a yearling at the Dubbo sales, has been a very slow maturer.
The son of Strategic only recorded his maiden win three starts back at Quirindi at his 20th start.
“He took a long while to get going,” Jeffriess admitted.
“He was always a big green bugger who took an age to figure out what racing’s all about. He just couldn’t get his head around things.
“Even now he’s still immature but he’s starting to put it together.
“Hopefully he keeps going in the right direction.”
Jeffriess even considered spelling Stretch early this preparation.
“His first few runs were disappointing to say the least,” she said.
“I was going to turn him out then he won at Quirindi and we haven’t looked back since.”
Stretch will be ridden by Patrick Lo who replaces the injured Sue Bigg.
Bigg, a former trainer, is the oldest apprentice in NSW at 37.
“One whipped around on her and she broke her wrist,” Jeffriess said.
AAP TURF
