Nature Strip immediate future up in the air
CHAMPION sprinter Nature Strip has returned to trainer Chris Waller’s Rosehill stables after his shock Lightning Stakes loss but his immediate racing future remains up in the air.
Nature Strip ran only sixth as an odds-on favourite when resuming in the Group 1 Lightning Stakes at Flemington last Saturday in a performance Waller described as “five to 10 per cent below his best”.
As a rising nine-year-old, Nature Strip is closer to the end than the start of his race career but Waller wants to give the super sprinter another opportunity to show he can still compete at the highest level.
The Hall of Fame trainer wants to monitor Nature Strip’s condition over the next few days before deciding how he prepares the gelding for his attempt at an unprecedented fourth successive Group 1 $3m TJ Smith Stakes (1200m) at Royal Randwick on Day 1 of The Championships on April 1.
Nature Strip travelled by float from Melbourne to Sydney on Tuesday night, arriving back at Waller’s Rosehill stable base on Wednesday morning.
“I wanted to get him back home and have a good look at him,’’ Waller said.
“He deserves another chance, I think, but we will see how he is over the next few days, we will know more then.’’
Nature Strip earned the ranking of world’s best sprinter when he followed his TJ Smith Stakes success last year with a famous runaway win in the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot.
The champion chestnut was magnificent again when he resumed to win The Shorts last spring, but he has since lost three races in succession, his longest losing streak for nearly three years.
Waller usually follows a similar race program with Nature Strip each autumn carnival and runs the gelding in the Challenge Stakes (1000m) at Royal Randwick second-up from a spell before going a month between runs into the TJ Smith Stakes.
But he is reluctant to race Nature Strip over 1000m again this autumn, which limits the options if he wants to give the champion another start before the TJ Smith Stakes.
Jockey James McDonald said he was also hopeful Nature Strip could recapture his best form going into the autumn carnival.