Flemington trainer Simon Zahra will be hoping that history can somewhat repeat itself when Duke Of Hastings (NZ) (Sacred Falls) lines up at The Valley on Saturday.
The six-year-old is due to contest the Domsafe Handicap (2500m) and as Zahra pointed out, there is a precedent with the horse using The Valley as a tool to return to winning ways.
“He found form at this meeting last year, he ran a really nice fourth and then came up and won his next start,” Zahra said.
“He enjoys the track, hopefully he can just jump out of the gates a bit better than what he did the other day.”
A win on Saturday would be well deserved for Duke Of Hastings, who finished fourth at Flemington at his most recent outing after a slow start.
“It was a bit frustrating the other day, he missed the kick and got back on the fence and couldn’t get going when he needed to and they didn’t make a lot of ground,” Zahra said.
“It was frustrating on the day but he’s back in trip, back in class big time and at a track that he generally goes well at.”
Out of the stakes winning mare Fairygem, Duke Of Hastings was a $10,000 purchase by Peter Franklin’s Cranton Bloodstock from Balndford Lodge’s Book 1 yearling draft at Karaka 2020, and he has earned A$249,250 in prizemoney to date.
Zahra’s other runner on the day is Oceans Above (NZ) (Ocean Park), who suggested that a return to form was close two starts ago but was then beaten by more than 18 lengths at his next start.
The Group One-winning trainer was at a loss to explain that latest performance.
“It’s just unfortunate, you don’t know what you’re going to get with him,” Zahra said.
“I went home and analysed it a bit, he actually doesn’t like being inside horses but in the past, he’s never carried weight, never been a horse to carry a lot of weight, so he’s going to come in well on Saturday with the claim as well.
“We haven’t drawn great, but I think for a horse that doesn’t like being inside of horses, that’s probably a nice gate for him.”
