After a well-publicised debate in Victoria regarding the state of the tracks, with many trainers coming forward stating they were too hard and were causing injuries to their racehorses, we decided to move Plymouth Road from the Freedman camp up to Sydney with James Cummings.
Plymouth Road is a born and bred kiwi, by the hot sire – Tavistock, purchased after an impressive trial in NZ. Since arriving in Australia, under the guidance of Lee and Anthony Freedman, this hot-headed stayer has begun to show some real staying ability. From 13 starts, this 4yo already has 3 wins, 2 seconds and 2 thirds.
He ended his first preparation on a high with a solid 3.5 length win at Mornington over 2000m in June, followed by a strong 2nd at Caulfield over 2000m. The Freedman’s then decided to give this boy a well-deserved spell. On his third-up start during his second preparation, he produced the goods again, winning over 1850m at Kynton in November. Unfortunately, in his 2 subsequent runs, the gelding was unplaced and we noticed he was struggling on the firm tracks. He wasn’t putting in the same amount of effort we’d normally see. With no resolution to the state of the firm tracks in sight, the only option we had was to send the horse to Sydney in the hope of finding track conditions that had a little give. It was then that the horse was transferred to James Cummings’ stable in Randwick.
The horse has settled into the stable well and following a fair trial, he is set to start at Warwick Farm on Wednesday afternoon in a BM72 over 2200m, click here to view the field. With some luck and a little sting out of the track, this lad should perform well, albeit, he may need one run to get back to full race fitness. Click here to view replays of Plymouth Road’s races.
