Top reinsman Greg Sugars believes potential superstar Ride High felt much better when winning at Tabcorp Park Melton on Saturday night, improving on his 4YO & 5YO Championship showing last month.
Despite only having a metre to spare on the line, the Clayton Tonkin-trained son of Art Major made light work of his opposition in the TAB Multiplier Westburn Grant Free For All (2240m).
It was the five-year-old’s second start back from a long injury lay-off and his first since November 9 when scraping home for victory over Hurricane Harley.
“He had the race obviously comfortably in his grasp and I just tried to look after him as best I could,” Sugars said of Saturday night’s front-running display.
“He probably overdid it a little bit. Once I eased him, he’s eased too much and they run him to a slightly narrower margin than what we would have liked.
“But it’s nothing to be too concerned about. We took a lot of positives out of the horse. He felt a lot sharper than what he did in his first-up run to me and I’m pretty happy with what he did.
“If I had have been fair dinkum and sort of pushed him right out, I think he would have held a pretty decent margin and looked very, very impressive.”
Owner-breeder Peter Gleeson told thetrots.com.au last week that a number of big Group 1 races were on the table for Ride High, including the illustrious Miracle Mile in March next year.
Sugars said it would now be a matter of getting the runs into Ride High, which has been to the races just twice since late August 2018.
“Obviously they are going to target some of the big races coming up early in the new year so I think we will just race wherever is suitable just to get a few runs under his belt and make sure he is in cherry ripe condition by the time those good races come up in January,” Sugars said.
Ride High has now won 10 of 11 career starts for more than $200,000 in prizemoney.
On Saturday night, Sugars landed the second leg of a winning double behind Joe Abela-trained Madena Sky in the Emerald Lake Logistics Trot (1720m, NR 67-77).
John Caldow also drove a double, firstly partnering Michelle Eastman’s Aleppo Murphy to win the Schweppes Kids Christmas Party Trot (2240m, NR 78-100) and then Dallas McIntyre’s Sarah Bonus in the Pooch Beauty Salon Pace Final (1720m, 4YO+ NR 46-51).
Training honours were shared, with 12 different people getting in the winner’s circle on Saturday night.
HRV Trots Media – Tim O'Connor