Bellagio is better with his shades off
THE removal of blinkers has been the catalyst for Mr Bellagio to be afforded his first test in stakes company when he returns from a mini break in Saturday’s Listed Eye Liner Stakes at Ipswich.
Gold Coast trainers Toby and Trent Edmonds had been exasperated about Mr Bellagio not transforming his good work on the track into race results and decided to take the shades off when he ran second at Doomben on February 29.
“He was just maybe doing a bit much within himself with the blinkers on,” Trent Edmonds said.
“He ran a bottler first-up back in December behind Epic Girl, then went away for a while after that.
“That was frustrating because he looked fantastic and was working good at home without the head gear.
“So we just decided to strip them off on race day because he hadn’t won for a stack of time and since then he’s run two seconds and won three straight.”
The latest win was perhaps a career best, winning by five lengths over 1400m in Open grade at the Gold Coast back in May on a Heavy track, which has prompted Ladbrokes to make him $4.60 second pick tomorrow behind Boomsara ($4.20).
“He pulled up a bit scratchy after his last run, so we decided to tip him out and give him a short freshen up,” Edmonds said.
“He’s had a recent trial and is still going really well.
“It would have been ideal if it (the 1200m Eye Liner Stakes) was still 1350m and a bit wet.
“He will be hitting the line hard, it’s just a matter of whether on a firmer track they are a bit nippy for him.”