Jason Lee will lie-in-wait, ready to pounce with prodigiously talented Code Bailey, allowing the rhythm of Saturday night's PETstock Ballarat Pacing Cup to dictate the time to strike.
A second row draw dissolved any hopes of the Marg Lee-trained five-year-old replicating his career best all-the-way win in the Bendigo Pacing Cup, but the Terang reinsman told Trots Talk Code Bailey had the tools to adapt.
"We are not expecting him to go out and do what he did at Bendigo, but he should run another great race, it's just going to come down to the tempo of the race and what sort of run we get to where we are going to be in our finishing position," Lee said. "Hopefully everything does fall our way and he will be running a very big race.
"I think he's pretty versatile. His first-up run was awesome I thought, all three runs this prep have been really good. I know he got beat first up, but he made really good ground in a fast last half against Ride High.
"I don't think he has to be in front or has to be in the first couple to have a big chance of finishing well up, but it comes down to what happens in the run as to whether we do try and make a move or, if tempo's not too bad, when we come with a run.
"Against this sort of elite level, you have to have a fair bit go your way. You can't be having any bad luck or having to try and make up ground in crazy last quarter fractions."
Code Bailey's reputation ballooned off the back of his 12-metre Bendigo win, a high point of a promising career that has included stints with Rob Pike north of the border, with Vince Vallelonga, with the Lee stable and then back to Pike before the current group of owners snapped him up in September 2018.
He has since missed a place only once – when checked by a galloper – and now finds himself well in the market for the coveted Ballarat Cup.
"It's a hot field and it's a nice race to be a part of, it's good to have a runner in a Ballarat Cup," he said.
"Hopefully he can just go well again. It's his first crack at open class level against Grand Circuit performers, so if we can go well and get him into the Hunter Cup that would be absolutely terrific."
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