SMART RUN IN THE CUP
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CAIRNS trainer Rodney Miller is bullish about the chances of City Smart at Gordonvale this Saturday as the five-year-old gelding aims to turn the tables on his Atherton Cup rival.
City Smart will line up in the Gordonvale Cup over 1800m and Miller believes he will be hard to peg back based on the strength of his last-start second in the Atherton Cup (2000m) two weeks ago.
The five-year-old finished 2.75 lengths behind the Janel Ryantrained Gaelic that day, and while he couldn’t get the job one, he still managed to instil plenty of confidence in his trainer with the run.
Prior to his second at Atherton – his best result since arriving at Miller’s Cannon Park stables from multiple Group One-winning Brisbane trainer Robert Heathcote – City Smart ran third in a Benchmark 60 Handicap (1900m) on Cairns Amateurs Cup Day, after he finished fourth in a Benchmark 65 Handicap (1900m) on Cairns Cup Day.
But Miller said he would be surprised if City Smart didn’t beat the Ryan-trained Gaelic home this time.
“I reckon my horse had a better run (at Atherton),” Miller said.
“It (Gaelic) took off and got a break on them, but the last 100m he was running him down but it was too late.
“He really picked up down the straight – another 100 yards and he might have run it down to a length.”
Miller said he expected an abundance of early pace in the race, with plenty of good chances in the field.
“They’ll go real quick I reckon, which will suit him; he’ll get back and run on,” he said.
“Salesman will go quick, Gaelic will go quick, Scotty Cooper’s horse goes quick – there’s about five of them that will go quick, so it will be a genuine run race and it will suit him.
“The only thing I reckon could beat him is the track – it gets like a rock out there and it’s a tight track and a lot of horses don’t handle it.
“That would be the only thing against him.”
Salesman was well off the leaders in his most recent run in the Cairns Cup, finishing almost 10 lengths behind Ryan’s winner, Tutelage, but had shown enough in previous weeks for trainer Trevor Rowe to consider the eight-year-old a good chance in the Gordonvale Cup.
“We gave him a let-up after the Cairns Cup, he had two or three tough races heading into that,” Rowe said.
“We gave him a bit of a freshen-up in preparation for the Gordonvale and Innisfail Cups.
“In the Cairns Cup, he just got caught in traffic and couldn’t get out. “He beat himself.
“He’s a more than capable horse, a good Cups contender.”
Salesman will be among the most experienced of the horses in the 10strong field, but Rowe hasn’t even considered the end.
“He’s a year-to-year proposition at his age, but he’s been good,” he said.
Gordonvale’s five-race program will start at 1.45pm, with the Gordonvale Cup to jump at 4.50pm.