Man Around Town tuned up for Newmarket
MAN Around Town has seen most of the coast of Queensland over the last 12 months but a home-track feature race is just what trainer Trevor Rowe wants for his gelding.
The six-year-old won up at Cooktown in November of last year, recorded wins at Gordonvale and Atherton soon after, before making the trip south to Doomben for the Battle of the Bush final.
The chestnut ran just under two lengths behind the winner in Brisbane, with Rowe more than pleased with the run, before returning north for a 1000m event at Cluden Park last month.
The Michael Lee-trained gelding Platinum Tycoon showed his class at Townsville on that day but it was Man Around Town who caught the eye of many, flashing home late down the outside.
A fortnight between starts has the Cannon Park trainer optimistic the gelding will be at his peak for the $50,000 Cairns Newmarket Open Handicap (1400m) tomorrow afternoon.
“I think Man Around Town will be right in this up to his ears, barring bad luck, there is no doubt about that,” Rowe said. “He is a pretty handy horse and I think he is a really big chance, so fingers crossed nothing goes pear-shaped.
“In that 1000m race at Townsville, he made a slashing run and I was tickled pink with the way he went.”
The experienced Far North trainer gave Man Around Town his final gallop on his home track on Tuesday morning before putting him in cotton wool ahead of Saturday’s feature on the first afternoon of the Cairns Cup Carnival.
Backed by a loyal crew of Cairns owners, Rowe could have entered the gelding in last Saturday’s Cleveland Bay at Townsville but opted for the Cannon Park feature.
“The owners are all local people so they were thinking about the Newmarket,” Rowe said. “We may not have got in the Cleveland Bay anyway but he is ticking over nicely.”
With regular hoop Sonja Wiseman opting to ride the Tim Cook-trained Avonaco in the Newmarket, Braydn Swaffer gains the ride today.
Man Around Town and Swaffer combined to win over the Cairns Amateurs carnival in 2015.
The Rowe racing stable, which claimed the Cairns Cup with Chateau Dettori in 2016, is in a transition phase with a number of experienced horses retiring of late and a handful of babies making their way in.
Effigy Belle succumbed to an injury, as did Minnie Street while Stable Surprize broke his leg only recently.
“I have a stable full of youngsters so I will need them to kick a couple of goals,” Rowe said.