The days of being sparingly raced may be over for Surprise Baby (NZ) (Shocking) with the stayer a chance to run in Saturday’s Zipping Classic at Sandown before being readied for a busy autumn campaign.
Trainer Paul Preusker told Racing.com he is ready to unleash Surprise Baby after a quiet 12 months which saw him have to runs in between Melbourne Cup starts.
‘’We might have a look at next week (Zipping Classic) and get quite busy in the autumn,’’ he said on Sunday from Ararat.
Surprise Baby started last Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup as the well-backed $6 second favourite but never threatened from well back in the field before finishing 13th.
‘’He came through that with a couple of little things, which you expect from a big field like that, but he went home that night and ate up and he’s kept eating since,’’ Preusker said.
‘’We might give him a stride out on Tuesday and might have him nommed up for the Zipping and just hope for a bit of rain.
‘’He’s right. He’s ready to go again.’’
Preusker explained the reason behind Surprise Baby’s rare appearances over the past 12 months.
‘’He was hard one last prep,’’ he said. ‘’I think he had his first start Horsham Cup day and I think he raced for the whole 12 months.
‘’An autumn prep wasn’t really there for him where as this time it’s a lot different so certainly you’ll see him feature in the autumn quite strongly hopefully.’’
