Can former Kiwi Soleado salute at Canterbury on Wednesday?
AFTER failing at his first Australian start, former NZ galloper Soleado will be aiming to improve when he heads to Canterbury to contest a BM 67 Handicap over 1550m this Wednesday.
Trained at Wagga by Tim Donnelly, the promising stayer worked into the race late but was never a winning chance at his home track last start, finishing ninth when beaten 3.2 lengths by Go Get’em over 1400m.
Prior to that, the four-year-old gelding had won two from two in New Zealand, the most recent being over 2100m in January.
Donnelly, who has just eight horses in work, said he always knew a first-up run over seven furlongs would be unsuitable for Soleado.
“I wasn’t too disappointed with him first up – we knew the 1400m was going to be much too short for him looking at his New Zealand runs which were over 1600m and 2100m,” Donnelly told Horse Betting.
“On top of that the horse in the barriers next to him played up badly and was a late scratching which upset him a bit and while he was always going to go back in the race he did find a bit of interference.
“He eventually got into the race, but by the time he was warming up it was all over.”
The son of Don Eduardo and Ensoleille has been harshly given the top weight to carry on Wednesday when he jumps from barrier three with Tye Angland aboard.
Donnelly concedes this will make it a hard task for the bay gelding to win.
“He has ability – but he is poorly weighted this week. He comes from New Zealand where he won two from two but only earned $8,000 in prize money – then he comes here and gets 60.5 kilograms.
“It’s a big ask – especially considering the horse directly below him has won six races and $120,000 in prize money.”
Donnelly says the main thing is that his charge gets through this run unscathed, with a rise in trip imminent for the remainder of his preparation.
“He is a very dour horse so the 1550m is probably still going to be too short for him, but the rise in distance and the timing of the race suited with two and a half weeks after his first run.
“Ideally it would be great to see him finish in the top three, but as long as he finishes off well and pulls up ok I’ll be happy.
“He is obviously going to be looking for further, so depending on how he pulls up this week that’s what we’ll be aiming for next.
“He is a very clean winded horse so I’m hoping to get him back up over 2000m.”
Soleado is engaged in race three at Canterbury this Wednesday, which will jump at 2.05pm.
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