Cruisin Around heads to Tabcorp Park Melton Saturday night looking for harness racing Group 1 glory in the Alan Mance Holden Need for Speed Prince Final.
He has drawn awkwardly in barrier seven but trainer Michael Hughes is happy enough.
“I’m more confident him drawing seven where he can do what he did at Bendigo in his semi-final win and idle out but it would have been nice if a couple drawn inside him had drawn the second row,” Hughes said.
“He is the type of horse that you can’t drag back to last, you just have to go with him a bit. He could end up midfield out wide settling but you can’t say he will go forward or back due to his manners.”
Placed in last season’s Breeders Crown and Vicbred Finals as a two-year-old, Hughes believes Cruisin Around has improved a lot as a racehorse.
WATCH CRUISIN AROUND WIN LAST TIME OUT
“He has matured a lot. He doesn’t get as fired up and has been more settled in his races compared to what he was last time in," he said.
A strong winner in his semi-final when doing the work outside the leader, Hughes was particularly impressed with the way Cruisin Around got the job done.
“It was a super run. Greg (Sugars) never really got to anxious up the straight and he was confident enough he was always going to win,” Hughes said.
Hughes rates the main dangers to Cruisin Around as Big Jack Hammer and Ball Park but he was wary of Bacardi Hurricane also.
The Need for Speed Prince Final is Race 7 on a massive program Saturday Night at Melton at 9pm.
by Matt Jackson