The flourishing David Hayes-Chad Schofield partnership looks set to churn out another winner at Geelong this afternoon when third starter Cahier contests the Elephant & Castle Hotel Restricted 64 Handicap (1000m).
Photo by Racing and Sports
The five-year-old son of Bel Esprit is coming off a dominant five-length win at this track last start where he comfortably shed his maiden tag, running to a weight-adjusted Timeform figure of 71.
He sat just behind the early leader, raced up to the front at the 200m mark and drew well clear stamping himself as one to follow.
He takes the next step today carrying just half a kilogram extra in a very winnable looking race.
Cahier is the lightest raced galloper in this field which is often a good sign in these lower restricted races.
And from gate two he should go forward again and dictate proceedings.
Prior to his huge win here 39 days back, Cahier ran sixth on debut at Mornington beaten 5.7L.
Incredibly there’s been six winners since to come out of that race from 17 subsequent starts and the form continues to hold up.
I’d expect this Hayes galloper to land in much tougher races than this in the not too distant future.
Michael Roebuck’s Capturethedream shapes as one of the biggest dangers after winning a Restricted 58 Handicap at this track and trip 18 days ago.
It was his fourth salute from 30 starts and produced a weight-adjusted Timeform figure of 69.
That’s about his maximum level so he’ll need to reproduced that again to challenge the top pick today, but he’s third-up and can do so.
Peter Snowden hopes to have a say in this with Crotchet who broke through for a maiden win two runs back at Seymour over this trip.
That run yielded a weight-adjusted Timeform figure of 74 which puts him right under notice for this one.
He could only manage a 3.9L seventh here last start in similar grade when running seven pounds below that maiden win.
But he is capable of more than that, and must be kept safe.
Brent Stanley’s Override, resuming off a 135-day spell with Kayla Nisbet riding, looks the next best.
