Foreign Prince on trial at 2400 metres
Foreign Prince will have a change of rider and a change of tactics for his first attempt at 2400 metres in the Winter Cup.
Trainer David Payne has engaged senior rider Jason Collett for the Listed race after claiming apprentice Deanne Panya rode the gelding to his two recent wins.
Because Foreign Prince is untried at the distance, Payne will also be hoping he can be ridden a little quieter rather than lead as he has in his recent 1800 and 2000 metre wins.
“I want to give him every chance to get the 2400 metres so I will be telling the stewards we don’t want him to lead,” Payne said.
“I want to see him settle. We have put Jason on simply because it is a non-claiming race.
“If the horse does prove he can get over the distance we will take him to Grafton.”
And extra six horses have been nominated for the race with entries extended until Tuesday after only seven original nominations.
Foreign Prince’s most recent win gained him automatic entry to the Listed Grafton Cup (2350m) on July 14 with the Winter Cup winner also gaining a ballot exemption.
The extra Winter Cup entries include the Chris Waller-trained duo Loophole and Murphy’s Delight as well as Glorious Sinndar and Backbone from the Darren Weir stable.
Payne entered three youngsters for the 2YO handicap over 1400 metres but will run only one, Ready For Success.
“He’s by More Than Ready and they seem to handle soft tracks so we’ll give him a go,” Payne said.
Payne will also run Bold Circle in a 1500m-benchmark 78 race against a field similar to the one he met when third over 1400m last Saturday week at Rosehill.
Avonaco and Gambler’s Blues who finished first and second are both among the 21 entries for the race which has a field limit of 14.