Trainer Bruce Marsh will look to end the year on a high by attempting to claim a hat trick of “black type” victories with Trudeau at the $175,000 Group 3 Colonial Chief Stakes over 1700m on the Polytrack on Sunday.
The Australian-bred sprinter-miler has already picked up two feature race trophies this year, taking home the Group 3 Garden City Trophy (1200m) in September and the Group 2 EW Barker Trophy (1400m) last month.
A disastrous run however in his last outing surprised many but has not deterred Marsh, whose expectations remain high for his bay galloper.
Last Sunday, Trudeau (with jockey Corey Brown astride) never found his rhythm and produced a dismal performance in the RDA Cup over 1200m and finished last among the 12 runners, six-and-a-half lengths behind surprise winner Cavallo.
“It was a short race and he found himself stuck at the back,” said Marsh. “There was quite a lot of kick back as a result and he didn’t appreciate it at all. Overall it just wasn’t a good race for him.”
Nevertheless with a longer trip scheduled on Sunday, the New Zealand handler, a two-time winner of the Singapore Derby, expects Trudeau to bounce back from that disappointing run in the last feature race of 2013 in Kranji.
The Arexevan Racing Stable-owned gelding by Exceed And Excel from Canadian Legacy has eight wins from 35 starts in Australia, Malaysia and Singapore for stakes earnings close to $560,000.
“He’s definitely more suited to something like 1700m,” said Marsh, adding that he will resist tinkering with the head gear by adding pacifiers.
“He’ll probably race from the front and position himself among the first three runners so he won’t really have to deal with too much kick back unlike in the previous race.”
Jockey John Powell will ride Trudeau for the first time after Brown opted for the Steven Burridge-trained Goliath having won back-to-back races with the New Zealand-bred gelding.
Besides Trudeau, Marsh will also saddle smart galloper Street Legal with jockey Alan Munro astride for the first time for Sunday’s main race.
The eight-year-old Australian-bred gelding may have failed to place in his last two starts, finishing fifth in the Raffles Cup and seventh in the Singapore Gold Cup, but that was in Group 1 company and Marsh expected a much closer fight this time around.
“He likes to get a strong hit out at the trials before he races,” said Marsh at Tuesday’s barrier trials where Street Legal clocked a decent 1min 0.57sec.
“I’m very happy with his work and he’ll be very competitive come Sunday.”
