Sutherland hopes to stay on a roll
TRAINER Trevor Sutherland is hoping his quartet of winners at Wagga Wagga last week is an indication his stable’s fortunes have turned for the better.
“We were having one of those runs where we didn’t have a winner in six weeks but during his period I trained about 20 seconds,’’ Sutherland said.
“I told the staff at home we were due for a good day. I said we could train four or five winners soon because the horses are going well.’’
The stable did dominate the Wagga Wagga meeting eight days ago with four winners and could easily repeat the effort at Albury today.
Sutherland has a powerful entry with leading chances in all seven races at Albury including Gentleman Max and My Maher, who clash in the Benchmark 68 Handicap ( 1400m).
The remarkable Gentleman Max, the “Iron Horse of the Riverina”, is having his 15th start this campaign but is only just starting to work his way back into winning form.
Gentleman Max nearly gave Sutherland a fifth winner at Wagga Wagga when he finished powerfully to be a close second behind Cash Crisis over 1400m.
“He’s a funny old horse,’’ Sutherland said of Gentleman Max. “I’ve tried to spread his races out before but he just won’t perform — he needs to race every seven to 10 days.”
My Maher was having her second start for the Sutherland stable when she finished down the track at Wellington over 1100m but her trainer warned punters to expect a much improved effort today.