De Filippi keen to make most of rival’s scratching
Rival trainer Colin De Filippi takes no joy from seeing arch rival Master Lavros scratched from today’s Flying Mile at Cambridge but that won’t stop him making the most of the opportunity.
Master Lavros will miss the $45,000 mile because of leg problems, which leaves Stent a red hot favourite to win the sprint for the third straight year.
But De Filippi says while his task has been made enormously easier by Master Lavros coming out, he would still rather see him there.
“You never like to see a good horse have a problem and it is a shame for trotting because the open class ranks were getting some real depth about them again,” he said.
“But it obviously makes our task easier this week and we have the draw to go forward and lead so that will be our intention.”
Stent never got into the race until too late when Monbet downed Master Lavros in sensational style at Alexandra Park last Friday but the three who finished in front of him then are not among his rivals today.
“It looks an ideal race and while he has been a bit lazy out of the gate recently, I will wake him up in the prelim this week and use his gate speed.”
Stent has been overshadowed by the emergence of Monbet and the stamina of Master Lavros in the Dominion this season so today’s race provides him with the perfect opportunity to get his confidence back before taking on Monbet again in the National Trot next week.
“I am happy with how he is going but he has had no luck with draws recently, he made up two lengths when the leaders trotted home in 56.4 seconds last Friday and it is hard to do more than that wide on the track.”
With most of his open class rivals today going through muddling patches — particularly Sheemon, who has been blowing the start of his races — the logical danger from the draw is Prince Fearless. He has a huge motor and was stunning at Addington on Cup Day, although slightly disappointing three days later.
Prince Fearless then dropped out at the Pukekohe workouts 12 days ago so will need to bounce back in a hurry to challenge Stent, whose two campaigns in Australia in the last two years have made him a seasoned sprinting professional. While Stent now dominates the market for the trot, today’s $50,000 Futurity favouritism will be split between Tiger Tara and Hughie Green, with luck in the running crucial.
Tiger Tara has the draw to try to lead from barrier two and if he does hold the front he will be enormously hard to beat in the race his recently retired stablemate Venus Serena won last season using the same tactics.
He has been brave all season and if able to set his own terms Tiger Tara will make it very hard for deservedly hyped four-year-old Hughie Green to get past him.
But Hughie Green does have enormous talent and it wouldn’t surprise to see driver Maurice McKendry show aggression, especially as a win would qualify him for the rich Chariots of Fire in Sydney in February.
The TAB opened Hughie Green at $1.60 but if his tote price matches that then Tiger Tara has to get out to $2.50, which would be tempting for a very good horse with the better of the draws.