John O'Shea reports on the Godolphin stable acceptors for Randwick and Caulfield on February 25.
CAULFIELD
PEACOCK (Kerrin McEvoy): “I just thought he was a little run short last start. We’ve dropped him back in trip and put the blinkers on him to sharpen him up. If he ran up to his Australia Stakes run he’d be more than competitive here.
RACE 3 - Autumn Classic (1800m)TRENCHANT (Craig Williams): “It’s his first go beyond a mile. He’s a horse who’s always been desperate to get to Caulfield. I just thought he was a grade below the Guineas horses, so we’ve gone back in grade and up in trip. His run last Friday was acceptable against the older horses. He’s probably coming to a peak third up, there’s just a little query about him running the 1800m. If he can run the trip then he’ll be right in the finish because set weights suit him.
RACE 6 - Peter Young Stakes (1800m)TALLY (Craig Williams): “Tally seems to have kicked on nicely since he was gelded last season. His first up run I thought was excellent. The boys were very happy with his work on Tuesday morning, he loves Caulfield. He can give a good account of himself on Saturday. (Campaign to continue in Australian Cup and BMW)
RANDWICK
RACE 3 - Sweet Embrace Stakes (1200m)SAVATIANO (Tommy Berry): “She should have won last start. She got too far back from a wide gate. With a bit of luck she can turn the tables this race.”
RACE 4 - Skyline Stakes (1200m)CORUSCATE (Brenton Avdulla): “It was a good win first up and he’s improved since then. He maps nicely from a good gate, although the Slipper second favourite is in the race.”
RACE 5 - Liverpool City Cup (1300m)CHETWOOD (Tim Clark): “He’s provided us with plenty of headaches this carnival. But he did put in a lovely piece of work this morning. He can control the race from the front, which he likes. We just need to get him into a race where he can get some momentum and have a positive day out.”
RACE 7 - Chipping Norton Stakes (1600m)HARTNELL (Brenton Avdulla): “He was at his usual level this morning. He’s not a horse we ask a lot of in the morning. In view of the fact that it’s two weeks between runs he’s probably carrying a little more condition than we would normally have on him, which is an intentional thing that will ideally get him to the Queen Elizabeth spot on. He’ll run well again, I’m very happy with him. The outside barrier is not ideal because we’ll have to drag back and there’ll be a lot of slow ones in front of us. We just want him to have a good, positive day and hits the line hard and when he gets to the Ranvet in three weeks and moves up to 10 furlongs at Rosehill I’m sure he’ll be very effective.”
MAGIC HURRICANE (Christian Reith): “He’s going really well. We’re going to put the blinkers on him. He’s desperate to get his toe in the ground, he’s going great. After this week he gets into a 10-furlong race that will really suit him at Rosehill. I expect to see the best of him then.”
