Tony Pike has finished playing catch up with his Group One performer Allez Eagle.
The Cambridge trainer is now confident he has the five-year-old at the top of his game for Wednesday week’s Gr.2 Coupland’s Bakeries Mile.
Allez Eagle will head to Riccarton off a most recent second in the Gr.1 Windsor Park Plate following his narrow resuming victory in the Gr.3 Spring Sprint.“He’s been a run behind this preparation after missing the 1200 metre sprint on the second day at Hastings and he just got the job done over 1400 first-up,” Pike said.
“Second-up with 59kg on a track that was too wet for him at Trentham told in the final stages so this is now ideal for him. He’ll drop in weight and he’ll get on a firmer surface.”Meanwhile, Pike hasn’t been able to ignore the sense of timing about Slice Of Cake, who has earned a crack at the best of his age group in Saturday’s Gr.1 Sothys NZ 2000 Guineas at Riccarton.
“He’s just peaking and while he obviously hasn’t raced against this sort of class, he is the only one who has won over a mile against older horses,” he said.“He’s coming right at the right time and we know he will run a strong 1600 metres at Christchurch.”
From the family of the Gr.1 New Zealand Derby winner Cut The Cake, Slice Of Cake followed up his debut third with his maiden victory before he claimed a Rating 65 event at Te Rapa.“We’ve held him in high regard for quite some time and he probably should have won his first start at Taupo,” Pike said. ”He got pushed out wide near the turn and then got home really well.”
The stable will also be represented by Shelford in the Listed Yesberg Insurance Services Pegasus Stakes on Saturday and he is likely to back up in the Gr.3 Lindauer Stewards’ Stakes on the middle day.
