Peter Lock to resume spring-bound star at Tauranga
NEW Zealand trainer Peter Lock will kick off the delayed preparation of Mr Luigi in the GPS Precision Land Mapping R85 at Tauranga on Saturday.
The six-year-old gelding has had only 11 starts – winning three and placing in eight, due to consistent and unlucky injury problems which has caused a delay to its 2017 Winter Cup campaign.
The quality son of Darci Brahma is considered one of New Zealand’s best wet-track thoroughbreds, but two freakish accidents following two trial wins this preparation caused Lock to put its lofty ambitions on hold.
“We’ve had a couple of issues. After I trialled him the first time he kicked the back of the float. We got stuck in traffic and he went a bit silly, kicked the float and stood on his shoe,” Lock told HorseBetting.com.au.
“He pricked himself and I couldn’t work him for three weeks. The toe clip had gone into the sole of his foot and it took us ages to clean it up.”
A paddock accident continued the frustrations for Lock, who had Mr Luigi ready to make its race day resumption after winning a trial at Te Awamutu.
“We got him right, took him to Te Awamutu where he won nicely and we thought we had him right, but blow me dead he was playing in the paddock and banged a joint, so that was another two weeks in the paddock,” Lock said.
“We’ve had him at Matamata swimming and trying to do a few things because I’m running out of time to get him right for the Winter Cup (August 5) and Whyte Handicap.”
Me Luigi starts its long-awaited campaign this Saturday on an extremely heavy track at Tauranga and Lock has given caution that the $3.50 chance at Bet365.com might not be a winning hope.
“He’s pretty vulnerable,” he said. “Alysha Collett rides him and she thought he was forward enough to go to the races.
“He’s probably not hard and fit enough on a very heavy track. If we can get a soft run and get home the last bit he’ll be competitive.
“I definitely wouldn’t be surprised if he won, he’s a very good horse and class goes a long way, but he could be vulnerable on the track and at race day conditions.”
Lock has Australian aspirations in mind for both Mr Luigi and stable star HiFlyer which finished second in the Group 1 Easter Handicap at Ellerslie before heading to the paddock for a spell.
“I’m hoping to take them to Australia, probably Melbourne in the spring,” Lock said. “I haven’t studied the calendar, but back here in New Zealand we’ve got the three Hastings spring carnival races for both of them where they have to take on the best horses in New Zealand at weight-for-age.”
Lock, like many New Zealand horse trainers, come over to Australia for the better prize money. Running for $100,000 in New Zealand would be at either group one or group two level, whereas in Australia a weaker-graded handicap carries the same purse.
“It makes it very hard when we’re racing against the best here and you can go to Australia and run around in an ordinary Saturday race for the same amount of money,” Lock said.
“They might not shape up to the horses in Australia. I’ve been two or three times and we’ve had some luck, but I’ve learnt by going there that if you think you’ve got a good horse and you can go there and win races you’re dreaming.
“You need an incredibly good horse to go to Australia because they’re very good and you can’t just take an average horse over there.”
Lock believes his two runners are above average and are good enough to competitive on all levels in Australia.
“Without being smart, I think both of mine are up to it and that’s why I thought I’d come over and give them a couple of runs and if they measure up we’ll press on and if not, we’ll come home,” Lock said.
“I think both are way above average, especially Hiflyer. He’s the best horse I’ve ever had.
“He’s definitely got the turn-of-foot and he could win a nice mile over there. We just got pipped in the Easter and my jockey said he got to the front too easily and he’s just a dumb kid. If he can play with our group one fields over here and doing things wrong, we’re pretty excited about his future.”
Mr Luigi will likely be targeted towards the longer distances in Australia, but the worry could be the dry tracks.
“Mr Luigi ran 1:08 (over 1200m) one day and sat wide. I’m not saying he’s a rock hard track horse, as long as it has the cushion out of it,” Lock said.
GPS Precision Land Mapping R85 betting market
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