Cellsabeel still dominant Millennium pick
Tommy Berry believes wet track winner Cellsabeel deserves to be favourite for the Inglis Millennium.
As the only runner with exposure to a heavy track, the Ciaron Maher and David Eustace-trained Cellsabeel remains a prohibitive favourite for the $2 million Inglis Millennium.
But whether the $1.50 top pick lines up remains to be seen.
The Warwick Farm meeting is in some doubt because of heavy rain in Sydney and while the track has passed a Friday inspection by Racing NSW stewards, a further assessment on race morning will determine its fate.
Cellsabeel was a six-length winner on a heavy surface last start and “cruised” through the mud, according to jockey Tommy Berry.
But he admitted connections faced a tough call if the rain continued.
A testing run on a heavily rain-affected track could take the wind out of her sails for the autumn and the Millennium prize money does not count towards Golden Slipper qualification.
“She felt like she was dead-set on a good track that day, the way she dragged herself through the middle of them on the corner and put them away effortlessly,” Berry said of her last-start win.
“She was just explosive on it so the wet track is definitely not going to hurt her.
“But whether the team want to run her if it’s a bottomless track when she’s got to probably run two weeks later in the Silver Slipper to get into the Golden Slipper, whether you want to have that gut-busting run in between I’m not sure.
“But if she does line up she is going to take a lot of beating.”
The Maher/Eustace stable indicated it was keeping an open mind and would continue to monitor weather and track conditions.
Berry reunites with the Peter and Paul Snowden-trained Strasbourg in the $1 million Inglis Sprint-3YOs (1200m) and says the colt has returned in great order.
“They tried to stretch him out in trip a bit last time and he just struggled to run it, he was going too keen in his races,” Berry said.
“I think Pete is treating him more like a sprinter this prep. His trial was really impressive. We got him to switch off at the back of the field and he came with a nice strong run late and he’s a horse that handles soft ground.”
He is less certain how exciting Godolphin sprinter Pandemic will cope with the conditions in the Eskimo Prince Stakes (1200m).
The Sepoy three-year-old has never raced on ground worse than a soft 5 but Berry could not have been more impressed by his winning return last month.
“Sepoys are a bit hit and miss on wet tracks,” Berry said.
“But he was explosive first-up and I felt like he had plenty of improvement out of that run.”