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Of the 14 horses accepted for Saturday's provincial stayers final at Hawkesbury, none stand out more than David Vandyke warrior Maximus Gladiator.
Photo by Racing and Sports
The four-year-old heads into the weekend's $70,0000 staying decider over 2250m on the back of four-straight wins this campaign, plus he reunites with top jockey Peter Robl who has a perfect record on the gelding.
Throw in Vandyke's impeccable winning strike rate of 33 per cent this season, and Maximus Gladiator looks the one to beat on Saturday.
“We've already got the suits dry cleaned and ready, we are all pretty keen to get out there,” Vandyke said.
“We've had a terrific preparation with him and he is going into this race as well as he has with any of the others.
“Being the series final and being a benchmark race it just works out perfectly. Peter Robl will be back on, the only reason he didn't ride him last start was because he was committed to the Kensington meeting.
“It would be lovely if we could get a fifth straight win. That is what we are aiming for, he will be fit enough and mentally he is in a very good head space to go on with it.”
There's more than just a $42,000 winner's cheque up for grabs on Saturday.
Twelve months ago the stayers final was taken out by Gai Waterhouse star Tullamore, who subsequently ran third in last year's Caulfield Cup.
“If he wins this race on Saturday, he will prove to us that he won't be out of place at the next level,” Vandyke said.
“If we keep him going we will run him in the McKell Cup [at Randwick].
“He has been pretty easy to read the whole preparation and I've been very fortunate as my trackwork rider has found the key to him and takes him down to the bushland next to the track here and spends a lot of time with him.
“Originally we had sort of set him for the class one over the mile at Kembla with the view of moving forward into better grade over more distance but he's gone beyond my expectations.”
