Laing expecting better from star sprinter
ONE of Australian punters most enigmatic horses has produced a solid gallop ahead of the $150,000 Bletchingly Stakes at Caulfield this Saturday.
The Robbie Laing-trained Lord Of The Sky prepared for the Group 3 feature with a gallop at Cranbourne yesterday where it ran strongly over 600 metres.
Damien Oliver rode the four-year-old under a hold to the line and it looks to have rebounded well after a disappointing performance in the Group 3 Monash Stakes at Caulfield earlier this month.
Laing told stewards that he has changed his approach with Lord Of The Sky.
“We’ve freshened him up since his disappointing first-up run,” Laing said.
“He’s had a very strong gallop on the grass, he ran three [furlongs, 600 metres] in 36 [seconds] on that heavy track.
“We’ll give him a pretty easy week from here on in and see how we go in the Bletchingly.”
Lord Of The Sky resumed as the $2.35 favourite and will likely be well favoured again this Saturday, but Laing believes punters will see a different horse this time around.
“The horse is a terrific competitor but he wasn’t that day,” Laing said.
“I thought back to Sydney when he went five evens before he went up for the TJ Smith, had a walk on Friday, they called the races off on the Saturday so he had another walk.
“He’s gone into the TJ Smith on a light preparation and run the race of his life whereas first up [Monash Stakes], with him having put on a bit of beef he had two strong gallops on Saturday and Tuesday and went pretty hard on the Thursday.
“He went to the races pretty doughy and not in the mood to run fast. He missed the kick and that was the end of him.”