The first Saturday in July could well decide how busy spring is likely to be for Adelaide-based trainer Travis Doudle.
Having accepted with his promising stayer Not Usual Glorious for the Banjo Patterson Series Final (2600m) at Flemington, he’s still yet to make a decision on whether he will send the Fiorente gelding over on a quick seven-day back-up.
“He’s come through the run fantastically well so, at this stage, there’s no concern,” Doudle said of the former Shane Crawford-trained stayer on Wednesday morning.
“The track conditions will definitely play a big factor, but he does get a big pull in the weights against the better-conditioned horses.”
Not Usual Glorious is undefeated in his three starts since moving across the Tasman following his last preparation, which he also finished with a victory.
Rising in grade and distance with each run, Doudle knows he has a good horse, but just how good is the burning question.
“I’ve always trained him to get out to that trip and I do want to give him a little test because I think once I know he can get the trip, it’ll probably make my mind up what races I’m going to target going forward,” Doudle said.
“If he did go there on Saturday and race well, I think we could back off him a little bit, keep him just ticking over, maybe do a couple of weeks in the paddock and get ready for the spring.
“If he was to fail, we’ve (still) got ourselves probably the best stayer in Adelaide.”
All going to plan, Not Usual Glorious will head across the border on Thursday evening and for Doudle, he’ll be hoping a deluge is also en route to Flemington.
“I’ll be looking at the radar to see if there is any rain coming as he definitely does like the sting out of the ground,” he said.
While rain is forecast for both Friday and Saturday, with Flemington’s superior drainage, how big an effect, if any, that will have, remains to be seen.
