Shailer says fresh Laphroaig right to fire
FORMER Gold Coast trainer Paul Shailer is confident he’s freshened up Laphroaig enough to win at Port Macquarie on Thursday.
The five-year-old hasn’t raced for five weeks since running unplaced in the Port Macquarie Cup over 2000m and today he drops back to a Benchmark 66 Handicap (1500m).
The step back 500m in distance is what Laphroaig has to deal with but his trainer said he will handle the drop back in trip.
“He is fresh enough and is jumping out of his skin,” said Shailer, who is now based at Port Macquarie.
“He had 10 days out in the paddock since the Port Cup and he’s come back in and has been plodding around here ever since.
“I’ve just been trying to get the speed back into his legs and he had a little pipe-opener on the course proper here on Monday morning to clean his wind up for Thursday.
“He’s done very little but he looks fantastic and he gives you a very good indication of where he’s at.”
Shailer said the horse is giving him confidence because he can read him like a book.
“You can always tell when he’s ready and fresh because he get pretty excitable and jumps around a bit, so he’s showing all the signs that he’s where he needs to be,” Shailer said.
Another thing that is giving Shailer confidence is Laphroaig’s record (4:2-1-0) at the track and trip.
“He’s at his favourite track and distance and he’s been effective at it numerous times and he’s on the fresh side, so he’ll race very well,” he said.
“The weight he has to carry (62kg) is the worry but he’ll run on Thursday then head to the Country Classic (2000m) at Rosehill next start.
“He can absolutely still win on Thursday with his class. He just loves that 1500m start at Port Macquarie.
“I don’t know what it is about it because he’s a genuine 2000m horse.”
On Saturday Shailer will run Sassy Choice in a Highway Handicap (1600m) at Newcastle for the club’s The Hunter meeting.
She ran less than two lengths seventh three weeks ago in a Highway at Randwick.