Race manners the key to success for talented Canberra gelding

THE Canberra form has stacked up nicely during the Sydney autumn carnival with Maryore winning the Provincial Championships and trainers Barbara Joseph and Paul Jones have a three-pronged attack at Randwick on Saturday.

Their first two runners line up in the Highway Handicap and punters will be paying close attention to consecutive winner Mercurial Lad which created plenty of buzz when running off last start, but winning easily by just under two lengths.

Co-trainer Paul Jones said the three-year-old hadn’t shown the tendency to run off at home and some gear adjustments have since been made after it had to trial in front of stewards.

“He lost his racing ticket due to his waywardness,” Jones said. “He then trialled at the Sapphire Coast, went straight as a die with a couple of gear changes.

“He’s going to go around with a pacifier and a one-eyed blinker on his left eye. He doesn’t do anything wrong in track work, he’s never done anything like this to me, but he seems to spot things on race day.”

Despite running wide, the son of Pendragon was good enough to score a 1.8-length victory and it has since worked well in preparation for Saturday’s run.

“He went from the inside to the outside rail, probably gave up two lengths but won by a length and a half,” Jones described.

“He did something similar at Canberra the week before so he was on notice then and once he did it again at Goulburn they put a re-trial order on him, which he passed and he’s come through that trial well and has continued to work well.”

Track conditions won’t worry Mercurial Lad according to Jones, but stablemate and race-rival Always Flushed would have preferred the Sydney rain to hang around.

“The track doesn’t worry him (Mercurial Lad), he’s won on a heavy 10, his win at Canberra was on a slow-type track, but we would have preferred rain for Always Flushed,” Jones said.

“She’s had a bilateral knee operation so she’d prefer a little bit of give in the ground. She’s stepping up to 1200m from gate one, probably try take a sit in behind and be four-five lengths behind them.”

Jones believes there’s a few lengths behind his two Highway Handicap runners, but the significant weight advantage to Always Flushed will bring it into contention.

“With the weight swing it brings her into calculation,” Jones said. “To get a metro win or placing next to her name would be good as she’s from a very well-bred family.”

The team also lines up Just A Blur in the IGA Liquor Handicap and despite a form line which doesn’t stand off the page, it hasn’t had the best of luck and Jones is expecting a tidy effort from the six-year-old.

“She probably didn’t travel that well to Melbourne and probably had a couple of indifferent rides,” Jones explained. “She flies the lids and travels strong for the first 100m, the jockeys have to realise that they have to restrain her back to midfield or worse than midfield.”

It finished seventh behind Gold Symphony in the National Sprint which was followed by a sixth in the City Handicap last start at Albury. The form out of both races has stacked up nicely with Happy Clapper since running second in the Doncaster Handicap.

“First up in the National Sprint she wasn’t far behind Happy Clapper which has since come out and franked the form in the Doncaster,” Jones said. “She’s not far off her best and we’ll keep her around the sprinting distances.”

Just A Blur will likely head to Wagga Wagga to defend its Town Plate title before heading to the Magic Millions Broodmare Sale on May 30.

“She won the Town Plate last year at Wagga and we’ll try go back to defend her title,” Jones said. “Then either to Scone for the metro meeting there and we’ve also nominated her for the Magic Millions Broodmare Sale.

“Three or four days prior to that is the group three mares race at Brisbane so she’ll likely contest that and then she might upgrade in the sales book.”

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