Horror draw no obstacle
Old Flame will fire in Gong: Berry
TRAINER Peter Snowden is buoyed by jockey Tommy Berry’s optimism that Old Flame can overcome a horror draw in the $1 million The Gong (1600m) at Kembla Grange on Saturday.
Old Flame has retained TAB Fixed Odds favouritism at $6 despite being drawn to start out of barrier 15 in the feature race.
“It’s not pretty, I’ve got to say,’’ Snowden said.
“But it is what it is, we can’t change it. All we can do is have him as good as we can and I feel we have done that, he’s in really good shape.
“It’s a pity about the gate but Tommy is upbeat about it, he’s happy enough and that gives us confidence, too.’’
Old Flame goes into The Gong after an impressive win in the Group 2 Linlithgow Stakes at Flemington on Derby Day. The former English galloper probably hasn’t been given the recognition he
deserves for his biggest career win so far because he wasn’t suited by the Flemington track conditions which bordered on heavy but he still found a way to win by a convincing margin.
“The track was wetter than he likes, he wasn’t appreciating it and you could see he was ‘climbing’ in his action,’’ Snowden said. “But he showed a lot of desire, he did a very good job to win and win with authority. It was a solid effort from a horse with talent.’’
Old Flame, who won two of his four English starts, is in his second Australian preparation for trainers Peter and Paul Snowden and has demonstrated his obvious potential this spring campaign. After winning first-up at Rosehill, Old Flame then ran a close second in the Group 2 Shannon Stakes won by The Gong rival Surf Dancer, with Group 1 Epsom Handicap and Five Diamonds winner Ellsberg third.
A luckless run at Caulfield in the Weekend Hussler Stakes was followed by his Flemington win.
Snowden said the improvement Old Flame had shown in his second Australian preparation had not been unexpected. Old Flame is also challenging for favouritism for the $2 million The Ingham (1600m) at Royal Randwick on December 10 but Snowden said the entire was no certainty to stay in training for that race.
“I’m not sure about The Ingham,’’ the master trainer said. “Old Flame has been in work awhile and we will see what he does in The Gong first.”