Melbourne Spring Racing Odds: Modest Ambitions For Sertorius
August 29th, 2014 by Pom de TurfSertorius is a tough 7-year-old who’s going to have his say over the course of the Melbourne Spring – most likely there’s a run in the Caulfield Cup on the cards for him in 2014 – but he’s coming off a pretty intense Autumn campaign this year, and that will be reflected in the Racing odds ahead of the Memsie Stakes this weekend.
But Sertorius’ trainer Jamie Edwards is taking a realistic approach to the Memsie Stakes this year, in the knowledge that after the Autumn, there’s no way Sertorius can be as fresh as he has been coming into the Melbourne Spring in previous years. He spoke to the press ahead of the Memsie Stakes this weekend: ‘this is the first prep we have given him when he has also had a big autumn. This time in he has had a big autumn as well and I don’t think that he is as sharp as he has been in the past, but he is certainly going as good. If he can beat one home I will be happy against that mob; we could take a soft option and go to another race with him, but I think you are kidding yourself. If you run him against these horses you know exactly where you are going to sit. He is certainly not out there to win a Memsie and I will be more guided by what Craig (Williams) says as to how he is going.’
So don’t expect great things from Sertorius in this year’s Memsie Stakes against what looks to be a strong field, but you can reasonably expect him to feature in amongst those Racing odds later in the Spring, especially if things go according to plan. Edwards has a plan, it sounds like: ‘he had his final trackwork gallop this morning on the course proper at Geelong. It is a little bit difficult because the track was probably a heavy 8 or a heavy 9 and it was not the ideal surface to have your final gallop going into your first-up run, but Josh Cartwright rode him and was really happy. He is going well, he looks fantastic and he will parade very well on Saturday. He has proven himself at weight-for-age last time in and we will throw him at the deep end and see if he sinks or swims. He is certainly going good and I can’t fault the horse. 1400 isn’t his go obviously, but we have now had three big solid preps and it looks like fourth up over 2400 is his go. We will run him at weight-for-age and then we meet most of these horses five or six kilos better in the Caulfield Cup if we head that way.’
So watch out for Sertorius in the Caulfield Cup, and we’ll see how he’s shaping up in the Memsie Stakes this weekend…
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