Joe Pride has until Friday morning to decide if early Missile Stakes favourite Private Eye will take his place in the first Group race of the Sydney season or step out in a barrier trial at Warwick Farm.
The class runner in Saturday’s 10-horse field, Private Eye has been backed from $3.30 into $2.60 since markets opened, but Pride is wary of sending him around on a testing track so early in his campaign.
With the Randwick surface already rated a heavy 9 and rain forecast to return on Thursday, Pride said he may be forced to take Private Eye to the trials despite seeing the Missile Stakes (1200m) as a perfect seasonal kick-off.
“I feel like he’s in for a good preparation and while I think he looks a good thing in that race, I’m not sure I want to kick him off on a really heavy track,” Pride said.
“I’ve got options. He can go in the Winx Stakes or next week he can go down and run in the P B Lawrence Stakes at Caulfield.
“There is a good chance he will be at the trials on Friday instead but I will make a decision on Friday morning.”
Pride said his biggest reservation was rain on race day as the tracks tended to deteriorate quickly.
However, given his plans for the gelding, Pride doesn’t have the luxury of waiting to see what unfolds as the afternoon progresses on Saturday.
“Wet tracks to run on are so different when the rain is three or four days before a race as opposed to rain on race days,” he said.
“Unfortunately, I’m not going to be able to wait and say, ‘oh, I’m going to pull him out now’. He has to go to the trials on Friday if he doesn’t race.”
The Missile Stakes is the first black type race of the 2025-26 Sydney season with the opening major, the Group 1 Winx Stakes (1400m), a fortnight from Saturday.
If Private Eye does go around this weekend, Pride expects him to stamp his class, especially given he will carry equal topweight of 57.5kg under the set weights plus penalties conditions.
“Could any other horse in that race do what he’s done in his life?” he said.
“He is clearly the best horse in the race and he’s not even penalised for it because it’s set weights and penalties and he hasn’t won a Group One in the last twelve months or so.”
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