Barwon faces Flemington test over 2800m
A lightly raced stayer with family ties to a modern day war horse will try to do his bit to boost the profile of his trainers in the city arena.
Husband and wife training team David and Coral Feek have Barwon in Saturday’s Singapore Turf Club Trophy (2800m) at Flemington after the four-year-old scored his second provincial win from four starts for the stable.
After training in partnership with David Brideoake for four years, David Feek began a new venture with his wife at Mornington and they had their first runner in February last year.
Lucciola won a country Cup at Stony Creek the following month and was placed in a Warrnambool Cup, while Real Jazz gave the partnership its first city win at Moonee Valley in February.
Barwon is by Reset while his mother is a half-sister to 2010 Australian Cup winner Zipping whose career included four Sandown Classics, a race since renamed in his honour.
Bred by Lloyd and Nick Williams, Barwon raced once as a two-year-old for Williams’ private trainer Robert Hickmott in April 2014.
David Feek said a new client sent Barwon to the stable about three or four months before he stepped out to win a Kyneton maiden in mid-February.
After a Moonee Valley failure, put down to an unsuitable track, and a Pakenham placing, Barwon won a 2200m benchmark-64 on Pakenham’s synthetic surface late last month.
“I thought there was merit to the win and (jockey) Luke Currie made it crystal clear to me after that race that the horse was only just getting going the last 200 metres,” David Feek said.
Feek says Barwon is progressive and is “nervously hoping” he will develop into a genuine metropolitan galloper, believing he will relish racing over the longer distances.
“It’s a throw at the stumps, a massive rise in class, but he’s got 51 kilos so we’ll go there and hope for the best,” Feek said.
“I think going forward if he was able to run an encouraging top four or five, I think next preparation we’ve got a horse to look forward to.”