Henry Dwyer expects Hollerlujah to improve again to win The Showdown
He didn’t expect her to run so well first-up, but Henry Dwyer stopped short of saying Hollerlujah’s victory in the $250,000 VOBIS Gold Rush (1000m) at Bendigo on April 2 was a fairytale.
However, he will use that term if the talented two-year-old filly can salute again at Caulfield on Saturday – the $1 million The Showdown (1200m) – in just her second career start.
“I didn’t really expect that from her first-up,” Dwyer told horsebetting.com.au.
“Fairytale is a bit of a stretch, I suppose. But it was a good race to win with good prizemoney.
“She was a $46,000 filly and we’ve got some good owners involved.
“But it’d be a fairytale if she won a million-dollar race, I can tell you.
“But we won’t count our chickens yet.”
Despite not getting carried away with her impressive career debut, Dwyer saw plenty of upside in his young sprinter from day one.
“She’s always done everything right. We just never really put her under any real pressure,” he said.
“We just let her come on naturally. She has been very natural from day one.
“She’s very smart, very sensible, she knows her job and tries hard.”
READ: THE SHOWDOWN 2022 RUNNER-BY-RUNNER PREVIEW & BETTING STRATEGY
Along with the effort she has been putting in, Dwyer noticed plenty of natural talent in his filly early on.
“That was why we didn’t know what to expect early because we hadn’t let her off the bridle,” he said.
“She just did it all so naturally. It (her win on April 2) was the first time she was under real pressure and she came through with flying colours, and she came through the run well.
“So you’d think she would improve a little bit going into (Saturday).
“She couldn’t have done more than what she did first-up, and she’s trained on since then.
“So she’ll go in a live chance, I reckon.”
Hollerlujah has drawn barrier 12 in a 14-horse Showdown field, but that has not worried Dwyer.
He also wants her to take her time over the 1200m journey.
“She’s drawn wide. I’m not overly fussed by that. She’ll probably be forward of midfield, and three-wide with cover behind the speed,” he said.
“That’d be the ideal situation, and being able to peel out when she wants to.
“I’d probably prefer to be drawn out there than one or two.”
Dwyer is moving his way up the training ranks from a state-of-the-art property at Ballarat, featuring a custom built 24-horse barn and 15 open-style larger boxes.
Day yards and paddocks feature prominently throughout the property and are encircled by an 800m sand track.
“We moved to Ballarat about 18 months ago, so it’s been an interesting time trying to get our heads around everything,” he said.
“But we’re training plenty of winners and our horses are going well. It’s all going well, so we’re happy.
“We’ve also got a filly in Adelaide on Saturday – Prairie Flower (in a $54,750 two-year-old handicap over 1050m).
“She’ll be hard to beat, and she’ll hopefully go to a Stakes race in a couple of weeks.
“We’ve got a bit going on.”