Anthony and Sam Freedman would have liked a little of the rain that has fallen in the northern part of Victoria to have found its way to Caulfield.
While there has been drizzle, there has been no significant rainfall resulting in Caulfield track manager Jason Kerr applying 10mm of irrigation on Thursday and with a further 10mm planned for Friday.
That won’t have the same impact as rain, but it should be enough to provide enough comfort for the Freedman-trained Warning in the Group 2 Zipping Classic (2400m) on Saturday.
Warning is coming off a last start win in the Group 3 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2600m) at Flemington on November 6 where he was given a perfect front running ride by Nash Rawiller.
With Rawiller unavailable on Saturday, Damien Oliver takes over aboard the gelding.
“The horse is absolutely flying at the moment and I’m sure he’ll run a big race,” Sam Freedman said.
“His action is back to what it was as a three-year-old and that’s probably the main thing that has caused him to mix his form a little bit.”
Warning will be lining up for his 26th start on Saturday, that has netted connections five wins and almost $2.25 in prize money.
The gelding had a hectic three-year-old and four-year-old season and has finally found winning form again as a five-year-old.
“He ran in three Derby’s, a Caulfield Cup, a Melbourne Cup, an Australian Cup,” Freedman said.
“Those sorts of races are going to take a toll on a fairly young horse. Once you win a Derby and come back at four in those sorts of races, and still immature, it puts quite a bit of pressure on them.
“He probably felt that at the start of the autumn, but he’s been in work most of the year and has steadily made improvement.”
Freedman expects Warning to be up on the speed on Saturday in the weight-for-age contest.
“A lot of his best performances have been when he’s been able to get up there on the speed and show what a true stayer he is,” Freedman said.
