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Victory has eluded Gold Currency by the narrowest of margins in the early stages of his career, a trend Shaun Phelan hopes he can change on Friday at Tauranga.
The lightly-tried son of Tarzino debuted as a four-year-old in October, going down by a long head to Erin Go Bragh, before only a nose separated the gelding and Sabik at Te Aroha, the pair breaking away from the remainder of the field by a significant margin.
Phelan, who trains Gold Currency at Cambridge, has been happy with the performances, albeit plagued by the similarly poor barrier draw he will face in the Rob Pinny Realtycom Maiden 1400.
"He's had two runs and gone very close," he said.
"He's had 10 days off since his last run at his owners, Sandy and Julie's, and he's come back really well.
"It's disappointing that he's drawn wide again, he's had that every start. He does go forward, so it's probably my only excuse for him on Friday."
On Saturday, Phelan will have a pair of runners at the Waikato Cup meeting at Te Rapa including Arjay's Flight , who broke his winning streak last start as a result of tough track conditions at Trentham.
"He was in on Labour Day (at Te Rapa) when the races got called off, so we had to go somewhere else," Phelan said. "The track was just too heavy for him at Trentham.
"He also had ten days off at his owners and had a freshen-up, so he's come back and feeling well."
The Highly Recommended gelding holds early nominations for both the Gr.1 Harcourts Thorndon Mile (1600m) and Gr.1 Herbie Dyke Stakes (2000m), with the Rating 75 1500m contest on Saturday giving Phelan an indication of where his future plans lie.
"This race will tell us where we're at, whether if on better tracks, he's going to be looking for that 2000m or just a mile," he said.
"We've still got a bit to learn about him, but I think he could be competitive over 2000 on a good track."
Well-related stayer Notabadspillane will be searching for a return to his usual consistent form in the Dunstan Horsefeeds Stayers Championship Qualifier (2200m), after an unsuitable run at the course on October 28.
"He was just ridden completely upside-down there, we were building up to that race and his last two starts had been really nice, he'd been running on," Phelan said.
"He had two weeks off to freshen-up and he's a natural stayer, being a half to Pennyweka and related to Cheval de Foudre.
"Ideally we can just put him to sleep in the running and he'll get home well, we've got Michael McNab on him and he rode him earlier in his career and thought a bit of him, so hopefully we can get back on track."