We hope to start the New Year with a bang at Flemington on Sunday with two runners contesting a Listed event.
We get our weekend underway with Southern Rock making his return in the 1350m Benchmark 78 at Doomben on Saturday. Unfortunately, soundness issues have held the gelding back since his Saturday-class win in November of 2021. He is now a healthy horse who will undoubtedly take great improvement from this outing. We’ll look for him to be competitive once out to 2000m and beyond.
Our attention will then turn to the twilight meeting at Warrnambool (Saturday) where Extra Elusive will contest the 1700m Woodford Cup. He had been off the scene for a long time heading into his run at Sandown but has taken a step forward since then. Having said that, this is another run he is likely to need as he builds towards races between 2000m-2500m. If he can finish in the top four, it would be very encouraging.
Flashing Steel will be our first runner of 2023, set to take his place in the 1400m 3yo Benchmark 70 at Flemington on Sunday. He notched up a well-deserved win last time out at Scone in a performance that had plenty of merit. The slight rise in trip suits, he’s taken confidence from his win and up against a small field, we believe he’s capable of mixing it in this grade.
We will be represented by two runners in the 2800m Listed Bagot Handicap at Flemington, the first of those being Regal Lion. He has had a very good preparation so far, winning at Sandown and running well in Listed grade his past two starts. He can take a while to get himself organised early in the straight but Flemington is sure to help him, as will the services of Jamie Kah. He’s been in work a long time but is a fit and happy horse who deserves to be in mix again.
San Huberto is our other runner, heading into this race with a healthy space between runs. He has worked up in very good fashion since the Sandown Cup, including a trial win, and it’s felt the application of blinkers can help bring about some improvement. Although it’s been some time since his Group 2 success in France, it would not shock us to see him fighting out the finish, hopefully with Regal Lion!
We wish all of our owners the very best of luck and hope we can start 2023 with some immediate success!