Pike’s Star set for Stradbroke
Tony Pike rates Sacred Star a big chance in the $A2 million Stradbroke Handicap on Saturday despite a less than smooth campaign.
The Cambridge trainer is happy that he and his team in Queensland have done everything possible to get Sacred Star back to his best for the Group I feature at Doomben.
“His work this week has been very good. He had his final piece of work on Thursday morning and he was great and he was also good on Tuesday,” Pike said.
“He’s drawn an ideal gate and all we need now is a trouble free run and I’m sure he’ll be very competitive. He’s as well as I can get him.
“I’ll leave the race tactics up to Zac [leading jockey, Zac Purton] but I’d imagine he’ll be in the first seven or eight runners in the running.”
Sacred Star’s lead-up hit a speed bump when a stone bruise resulted in his late scratching from the 1200m BTC Cup before he finished fifth in the 1350m Doomben 10,000 which put his Stradbroke bid back on track.
“It was a tough ask over 1350m first up and he was entitled to peak on his run after missing a few days work,” Pike said.
“He’s improved since and he will strip a lot fitter horse on Saturday and he’s a good horse fresh, his first two runs are normally his best in a preparation. He’s going good enough to win it.”
Sacred Star will return home after the Stradbroke while stablemate Huka Eagle will run in a three-year-old 1200m handicap at the Sunshine Coast on Monday.
“He trialled well on Tuesday and we’ve changed a bit of gear, he was getting his tongue over the bit,” Pike said.
Huka Eagle has failed to fire in two starts in Queensland and to add to the stable’s woes another two of its troops had to return home early.
“Allez Eagle got a bad infection in his heel and Sancerre got a virus,” Pike said. “It’s been a bit frustrating, but hopefully we can turn it around on Saturday.”
Meanwhile fellow Cambridge trainer Trent Busuttin is happy for El Roca to take his chance in Saturday’s Stradbroke after initially considering bypassing the race.
“The owners were keen to have a go and when he’s got 53 kilos to carry in a $2 million race, you’ve got to give it a go,” he said.
“We had looked at the Eye Liner Stakes at Ipswich the following week, but the prospect of carrying 60 kilos in that made us sway away from that.”
Busuttin got a further boost when co-owner Larry Stewart selected a cap concealing barrier two at Wednesday’s barrier draw function at Doomben.
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