Price and Kent Jr to have strong hand on Caulfield undercard
Ayrton, Annavisto and Parlophone set to step up their campaigns with lofty targets ahead
Mick Price and Mick Kent Jr will hold a strong hand at Saturday’s Caulfield meeting but the training partners will resist the temptation to play their aces in any of the five stakes races on the Group 1 card, preferring to instead make use of a series of handicap races as a launching pad to the spring.
Last-start Gunsynd Classic (Gr 3, 1600m) winner Ayrton (Iffraaj), the $6 second favourite for the $7.5 million Golden Eagle (1500m) in October, and stakes-winning four-year-old Annavisto (Reliable Man) will both make their seasonal returns in low-key races before the bar is raised by Price and Kent Jr.
Ayrton, who will be ridden by Jamie Kah, goes in the $130,000 Handicap (1400m) while Bendigo Guineas (Listed, 1400m) winner Annavisto will bypass the Cockram Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) in favour of the Benchmark 90 Handicap (1400m) for mares.
Kent Jr described Ayrton as a natural athlete who was rapidly improving his fitness base but he warned that the New Zealand-bred gelding was not wound up for his return despite appearing to be well-placed taking in a handicap carrying 55 kilograms.
“We are mindful that he’s only had five starts. He’s a big baby, so we thought it would have been a bit of an ask to throw him in the deep end (in a race like the Memsie Stakes) when there’s a lot more to come,” Kent Jr said.
“While he only had a three-week break after he won the Gunsynd, he’s got a lot of fitness improvement to come, so we just wanted to kick him off at Caulfield, which suits. He only has to walk from his box to the tie-ups.
“He’s not cranked up to win first-up but the way he jumped out last week and worked this morning, he will be most competitive.”
Jamie Kah will continue her association with the exciting gelding, whose sole defeat came in a high-tempo Fred Best Classic (Gr 3, 1400m) at Eagle Farm on May 29, a loss which prevented his participation in the Stradbroke Handicap (Gr 1, 1400m) during the Brisbane Winter.
“He was beaten that day, but no one could have expected them to go so fast and only being second-up off a pretty soft first-up win, it was still a big effort. He got beaten and it probably worked out well for him that he ended up in a mile Group 3 rather than a tough Stradbroke and I think that’s made the horse,” Kent Jr said.
“He is a lot more furnished, he hasn’t had a hard career to date and we’ve looked after him. He’s a real natural athlete. I wouldn’t say he takes a lot of work.
“I think you’ll find that a lot of athletes, two or three fast bits (of work) and they’re ready to go, whereas the opposite is true for the less athletic horses. The improvement with Aryton from his first trial to his second is unbelievable.
“His coat’s come through, he’s muscled up, he’s started to bounce and feel really good.”
The Golden Eagle at Rosehill, the rich race restricted to four-year-olds, is Ayrton’s spring target but how he gets there is yet to be determined.
Kent Jr said: “We have tossed around a lot of ideas. We’re not sure about the Rupert Clarke, the Epsom has been mentioned, but basically race number one and race number four locked in and race number four being the Golden Eagle but two and three are yet to be decided.”
The stable is also confident about the development Annavisto, also a New Zealand-bred like Ayrton, has made during her spell and Kent Jr predicts the daughter of Reliable Man (Dalakhani) can step up to higher grade this preparation.
“She has improved, and was always going to being by Reliable Man out of a Tavistock mare (Avisto),” he said.
“Similar to Ayrton, she’s a big, framey horse who is going to keep filling out with time and we’ve also been kind to her.
“She had a really good prep last time, being a stakes winner. Her jump-out last Tuesday was very sharp. Ben Melham rode her this morning and he will ride her Saturday and he was really taken by her work.
“We are leaning towards running her in the Benchmark 90 mares race, where we think she’s a really good winning chance, with a view of going to a race like the Let’s Elope second up.”
The trainers have also kept their options open with Parlophone (I Am Invincible), runner-up at both runs this preparation, by nominating her for the Cockram Stakes, the Heath Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m) and the Benchmark 78 Handicap (1100m).
Kent Jr, however, revealed yesterday that the four-year-old mare was set to run in benchmark grade as a lead-up to the How Now Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) at Caulfield on September 18.
“We are really happy to have her back in form. To see her put two runs together is really exciting because she’s got talent,” he said.
“We were unsure which way she would go after her first-up run on a heavy track (in the SAJC Lightning Stakes) when she ran second in a stakes race, but for her to come back home and run a really good race when caught wide was great.”
Kent Jr credits a lightening of Parlophone’s training load for her consistency this preparation after three below par performances last summer.
“We have just changed how we work her a little bit. We are not working her as much as previously,” he said.
“She had a week on the water walker and one gallop this morning and she went super on the course proper for Jamie (Kah). It depends on how she goes on Saturday, but there’s the How Now Stakes for her in three weeks’ time for her.”
All going well, Parlophone could be in line to clash with her Atlantic Jewel Stakes- (Listed, 1200m) winning stablemate Night Raid (Vancouver), who impressed Price and Kent with her jump-out at Caulfield yesterday.
The four-year-old daughter of Vancouver (Medaglia D’Oro) has not raced since finishing well back in the Robert Sangster Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) at Morphettville in May, her third and final run last campaign.
“We always knew she wasn’t going as well as she could last prep. She was still able to win the Matrice Stakes in Adelaide but she is definitely going better this time in,” Kent Jr said.
“She is in awesome condition and this morning we gave her a really quiet jump-out. Ben Melham was motionless and she was only beaten a neck.
“We are really happy and the plan is to target the How Now Stakes first-up.”