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Caulfield trip beckons Fix; Brave Centaur to race for new stable; Injury rules Tiger Tees out; Spalato back on Sunday.
Caulfield trip beckons Fix
A tilt at the Gr.2 $A200,000 Tristarc Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on October 18 is in the offing for talented Matamata mare Fix if she can win Saturday's Gr.3 $70,000 Linwood Park Stud Spring Sprint (1400m) at Hastings.
Matamata trainers Ken and Bev Kelso were thrilled with Fix's first-up win over Benzini at Wanganui last month and have high hopes she could replicate that win at Hastings.
"She's progressed really well,” Ken Kelso said. “She was dominant in her win that day.
“Her exhibition gallop with Bounding since then was good and I'd like to think she's a big chance, especially drawn one with track conditions that should suit her.”Vinnie Colgan is reunited with Fix, with his previous seven rides on the mare producing four wins - three at Group Two level, a Group One placing and third and fourth placings in Group Three races.
Brave Centaur to race for new stable
Matamata galloper Brave Centaur will have his first start from new quarters in Saturday's Listed A$120,000 Headquarters Tavern Stakes (1400m) at Flemington.
Previously prepared by Matamata's Lance Noble, the Group One-placed O'Reilly seven-year-old has been transferred to Whittlesea trainers Peter Morgan and Craig Widdison.
Brave Centaur hasn't raced since his fourth placing behind subsequent Group One performers I Do and Pussy O'Reilly in the Gr.3 Foxbridge Plate at Te Rapa in mid-August.
He had to be scratched from his planned first start in Melbourne when he went down on the flight over and took skin off his hip, which led to his programme being out of kilter with the Noble-trained Viadana and his subsequent transfer of stables.
Injury rules Tiger Tees out
New Zealand-bred sprinter Tiger Tees will miss the rest of the spring.
The winner of the Gr.1 Galaxy at Rosehill in the autumn, the half-brother Hallmark Stud sire Super Easy pulled up sore after a recent trial at Warwick Farm.
The loss of Tiger Tees is a further setback for Joe Pride’s stable after his Gr.2 Shannon Stakes winner Rock Sturdy was also ruled out of spring competition by a suspensory injury.
Spalato back on Sunday
Star Singapore galloper Spalato will return ahead of schedule at Kranji on Sunday evening.
“He trialled well on both days (September 18 and 25) and I had to race him,” trainer John O’Hara said.
“He was quite keen at the first trial, but he was a lot more settled at the second one. I would say he’s only 80 per cent fit and may even get beat, but we had to find a race for him this week.”
O’Hara is keen on giving the “best horse he has trained” as much mileage as possible before an overseas trip.
“Hong Kong is still very much on,” he said. “If all goes to plan, I would like him to run in that lead-up race three weeks before the Hong Kong Sprint, the same race Rocket Man won four years ago.
“Ideally, I would like him to go to Hong Kong around 10 days before that race. So, obviously, he will need a couple of runs before he goes and then the bulk of the training will be done here.”