Nial Phillips expecting lots of dash in gelding’s Caulfield debut
NIALL Phillips is expecting his talented three-year-old Mr Dashing to perform well when the gelding makes his Caulfield debut this Saturday in race 2 – a BM70 over 1100m.
A winner of two of his three starts, Mr Dashing (paying $5.50 at Sportsbet.com.au) was far from disgraced first-up from a spell last time out when finishing second over the 955m scamper at Moonee Valley.
While he will meet a handy field this week, including Mystified, the horse which defeated him last start, Phillips says his charge should strip fitter for that December 16 effort.
“I knew the horse was going into the race at Moonee Valley about 85 per cent fit and he had a real big blow after that run,” Phillips said.
“We had a couple of setbacks with him leading into that race and it wasn’t actually something which we had on the radar for him – but I had to get him to the races and that was pretty much the only option at the time.
“It took him a while to get over the run due to the humidity and because of the way the race was run – the tempo wasn’t what he was used to and he got quite unbalanced.
“On the plus side I think he has learnt a lot from that run and I am expecting him to improve and be better for the run, although it is quite a competitive race this Saturday.
“He has drawn well in barrier three and I wouldn’t be surprised if he can jump well and find the rail.”
A son of Moshe and Munch, Mr Dashing has had a number of injury concerns to overcome in order to make it to the track, with Phillips describing the bay as having ‘split personalities’.
“He is a funny horse because at home he doesn’t show you a real lot – he is a lazy horse in his work – but on race day he is completely different.
“When he goes into the barriers he is a different horse – he just wants to run.
“He does have his share of issues – he has a couple of feet problems and he actually has a wind problem as well.
“That means down the track we will probably have to get an operation done on him, but the vets have said to leave him alone at the moment while he is racing well.
“Watching him at track work in the mornings you would be very surprised to know that he actually can gallop because he makes quite a bit of noise.
“But once he lowers his head and gets going he actually breathes quite well.”
Phillips, who trains at Geelong, has had his fair share of success since moving to Australia more than two decades ago, having learned from some of the best in the sport.
“I started in the industry back in Ireland at the age of 14 and I would work with the horses during my school holidays.
“That progressed to being an apprentice (jockey) for a couple of years but then my weight got the better of me at 21.”
Despite giving away his future as a hoop, Phillips was determined to have a successful career as a trainer.
He made the decision to relocate to Australia after his brother David, who was the strapper for 1993 Melbourne Cup champion Vintage Crop, could not stop raving about the land down under.
“After David brought Vintage Crop over for Melbourne Cup he came back home and he was talking highly of Australia and how good it was.
“He had just married a few months prior and made the comment one night that if he wasn’t married he would move over.
“A light bulb lit up in my head thinking ‘I’m not married’ so I ventured out in 1994 and moved to Sydney where I worked for Bart Cummings for six months.
“After that I moved to Geelong and it has been like the Bermuda Triangle – once I got down here I couldn’t get out.”
Upon moving to Victoria, Phillips worked with various trainers, including Peter Tennent and Mark Bairstow before making the decision to take out his own trainer’s license 14 years ago.
Despite the challenges which come with training, he says he does not regret his decision to make the move to Australia.
“It is not as cold here,” Phillips quipped.
“I only have 10 in work at any time and they are all home-bred types of horses. I have got one major client who has been with me since day one and he owns half of Mr Dashing.
“I like it here – the racing is competitive and the tempo of racing and the tracks themselves are very different (to Ireland) – and I also think there are some great opportunities over here for trainers.”