Pike rolling the dice
A SPARKLING workout on Tuesday and the theory of a bird in the hand led to Tony Pike changing tact with The Bostonian and accepting for Saturday’s Kingsford Smith Cup.
Originally, Pike was going to let the Doomben 10,000 winner go four weeks between runs into the Stradbroke on June 8. “His work Tuesday was very good and at $700,000, it’s not a race to be sneezed at,” Pike said.
“I spoke to the owners and we decided to roll the dice.
“We could sit and wait four weeks and you draw 18 or something goes wrong in between times.
“While he’s fit and well, we decided to run.”
Pike acknowledged The Bostonian is “electric fresh” but also pointed out he holds his form through a campaign, as evidenced by his three wins in 20 days here last year.
And he’s happy to cop a little bit of extra weight in the Stradbroke if it means another Group 1 on the scorecard.
“He’s going to be near the top of the weights anyway. If he wins, we will take the extra Group 1 and the extra 1kg,” he said.
Stablemate Endless Drama has also snuck into the Kingsford Smith field and Pike is expecting a forward first-up showing ahead of his tilt in the Stradbroke.
“We have followed the same prep as we did for the Easter Handicap,” he said.
“He’s a big gross stallion. That preparation suits him and he trialled super this week. He probably has to go back from the nightmare gate, but if they go hard up front he will be hitting the line pretty well.”
Pike says his filly (Our) Intrigue continues to thrive in Queensland and is spot on for next week’s Oaks.
After yesterday’s first acceptors, she is up to No.15 in the order of entry.