Guineas favourite draws 9

ROYAL Symphony kept his rating as Caulfield Guineas favourite after yesterday’s barrier draw and his jockey Dwayne Dunn believes the colt will bounce back from his first defeat.

Dunn’s wife Amanda, a part owner of Royal Symphony, drew barrier nine for the colt in the capacity field of 16 plus one emergency for the $2 million 1600m Group One race for three-year-olds.

Despite drifting slightly from $3.80 to $4, Royal Symphony remains at the head of betting for Saturday’s race.

Trained by Tony McEvoy, the colt put together four wins before having his colours lowered for the first time when fourth in the Guineas Prelude (1400m) on October 1.

Royal Symphony still ran the fastest last 600m of the race, 33.91 seconds, coming from back in the field and Dunn is confident the colt can win on Saturday when he will wear winkers.

He acknowledges it is a defining race. “He’s had such a big boom on him,” Dunn said.

“He was defeated the other day and we were all a bit disappointed because we’d like him to keep winning, but he probably ran the fastest last 400m of his life and he got beaten.

“He’s telling us that he’s still there.

“His jump-out since that race was fantastic and I’m hoping winkers do the job.

“But this is a turning point in his life because if he fails again he’s just another horse. So we’re hoping he’ll turn up and run extremely well and keep the dream alive.”