I’m Thunderstruck (NZ) (Shocking) will be banking on luck and the wide expanses of Flemington according to co-trainer Mick Price, after his galloper drew barrier 1 in the All-Star Mile on Tuesday.
“Anyone that says barrier 1 is fantastic has maybe not trained enough horses,” Price professed, who trains in partnership with Michael Kent Jnr.
“Barrier 1 in the big weight-for-age races, on a horse who is not going to lead, we are going to need some luck.
“It’s a traffic gate there is no doubt about that.
“I’ve got the horse right, he’s very right.
“If it works (barrier 1), good, it works fantastic.
“But in my experience watching races, barrier 1 always makes you nervous.”
Price did take confidence however reflecting upon the son of Shocking and jockey Jye McNeil when they combined to win the Toorak Handicap last spring.
“If you remember the Toorak when there was no room for horse and no room for rider, I thought the horse was brave and Jye was extra brave,” Price said.
“The jockey will take a gap, the horse will take a gap, but he just has to be going faster than the gap at the time.
“If there are three or four horses taking us in at the furlong, I just hope Jye is behind the right one or he is off the fence.”
