Doug Harrison is looking forward to promising sprinter Tudor’s return to the track after a virus put paid to his autumn carnival aspirations.
Tudor showed he was headed for a good autumn after winning the Chester Manifold Stakes at Flemington in January but his campaign was over when he finished with the tail-enders in the Carlyon Cup on February 28.
The trainer sent Tudor to his owner Kevin O’Brien’s property at Corinella in country Victoria to recover from a virus and has the four-year-old in good order ahead of Saturday’s Group Three Sir John Monash Stakes (1100m).
Although Harrison admits Caulfield is not one of the sprinter’s favourite tracks, he is keen to see what he can do.
“Caulfield hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for him, more bad luck than anything I suppose,” Harrison said.
“So we’ll see how he measures up on Saturday. There’s a series of races coming up at Caulfield but then there’s Adelaide with races like the Spring Stakes and the Penny Edition Stakes, but that will depend on how their tracks are holding up.”
Tudor finalised his preparation for Saturday’s race with a gallop at Harrison’s property on Tuesday.
The work-out followed two trials on the synthetic track at Pakenham, a surface Harrison said Tudor wasn’t happy on.
“He’s worked OK on it here at Cranbourne but he looked terrible in his first trial that he won,” Harrison said.
“His legs were getting up in the air and then in his trial the other day, he stuck to the inside.
“He galloped over 600 metres at home on Tuesday and that was all he needed as he’s pretty fit after his trials.”
Harrison is hoping for genuine pace to enable Tudor to slot in from his wide draw in the 16-horse field in which he will be ridden by Craig Newitt.
“I’ve had a bit of luck with Craig over the years and hopefully it continues on Saturday,” he said.
Harrison will also saddle debutant Reddington Secret in the TROA Supports Jockeys Trust Handicap.
“He might not have the brilliance of the others but he’s a nice horse in the making,” Harrison said.
