Ironclad kicks off big carnival for Clarken
WILL Clarken is taking a big team to Flemington for the Melbourne Cup Carnival and he’s hoping to land a blow early with the talented Ironclad in the Group 2 Linlithgow Stakes on Saturday.
The South Australian trainer is expecting to have runners at three of the four iconic meetings with black-type performers Beau Rossa and Ironclad representing the stable on Derby Day.
Clarken says the latter is his best chance, the seven-yearold looking to collect the biggest win of his career, adding to the three Listed races already on his CV.
John Allen takes the ride from barrier 10 and the trainer is hoping Ironclad can produce a similar first-up performance to the one that saw him sprint brilliantly to capture the Listed Matrice Stakes at Morphettville in March.
“We’ve really taken note of that (win in the Matrice), he’s an older horse who’s got a few ailments and I think the time to really strike with him is firstup,” Clarken said.
“I’m really buoyant about how Ironclad has come up. His coat hasn’t been this good for a long time and he turned in a beautiful piece of work on Tuesday morning. He’s in a really good way.
“Although it’s a Group 2 and it’s worth a lot of money, he’s in a race that I think he can be competitive in.”
Punters feel similarly, Ironclad firming from $15 to $12 with the TAB when markets opened. The stable is less confident about the prospects of Beau Rossa, a $21 chance in the Group 3 Rising Fast Stakes. Ben Melham will be in the irons and the instructions will be very straightforward.
“We’ll be riding him ultraconservatively. He got into some bad habits at the end of last prep,” Clarken said. “So we’ll try to keep half the field in front of us.
“His problem is he’s got that high handicap rating, wherever we run him first-up in a handicap, he’s going to be big odds because he needs to carry the weight against good horses who are hard and fit.”
Melbourne Cup day will be a big one for Clarken’s stable apprentice Ben Price, who will make his Flemington debut on Second Slip.