It’s a long wait but Perfect Weapon should be hard to stop in the Declaration Of War Handicap over 1300m at Warwick Farm.
The Greg Hickman-trained galloper has the topweight of 59.5kg in the final event of the day, a Benchmark 75 race, but comes into the contest in excellent form.
[n}Perfect Weapon[/n], a son of Canny Lad, has raced at the Warwick Farm track at his last three starts, registering two wins and a second.
He was successful at his last start over the 1300m journey in a Benchmark 70 race a fortnight ago, carrying 58.5kg with apprentice Sam Clipperton, who has the mount today, aboard.
Clipperton is riding in great form at present and only last week outrode his metropolitan claim.
Perfect Weapon has been on a steady rise up through the grades and his last start victory earned him a Timeform weight adjusted figure of 85 with the promise of more to come.
While rising 1kg in weight from his last start victory, he does come into the race with excellent form and despite drawing out in barrier 10 Clipperton should be able to give him a good run.
The Bart and James Cummings-trained Reunite is going to prove the toughest to beat with the addition of blinkers for the first time.
Reunite hasn’t been successful in more than a year – 368 days to be precise – but he has been racing well and against tougher opposition.
He was beaten 3.7 lengths at his latest outing in a Benchmark 80 race over 1500m at Rosehill 11 days ago after finishing fourth, beaten 2.7 lengths, behind You’ll Never in a Benchmark 85 race on July 5.
He’s another to have drawn off the track, but Blake Shinn, refreshed following a recent holiday in the US, is sure to allow the son of Encosta De Lago plenty of time to balance up and allow him to run on strongly at the business end.
Aspen, a member of the strong Darley team, has had the two runs back following a break and the Exceed And Excel filly is sure to appreciate the step up in journey to 1300m.
Importantly also is the weight drop of 4.5kg on her last start fourth behind Niobe in a Benchmark 70 race at Canterbury just seven days ago.
James McDonald, chasing an outright victory in the Sydney Jockey’s Premiership, has the ride and from barrier three is sure to get a good run in transit.
