Attard hoping for wet track for Kellyville Flyer in Hawkesbury Gold Cup

Local trainer Jason Attard is hoping for another wet track to boost the chances for a home town victory with Kellyville Flyer in the Group 3 $200,000 Livamol Hawkesbury Gold Cup (1600m) at Hawkesbury on Saturday.

Trainer Jason Attard is hoping for a wet track for Kellyville Flyer, above, in the Hawkesbury Gold Cup at Hawkesbury. Photo by Steve Hart.

Trainer Jason Attard is hoping for a wet track for Kellyville Flyer, above, in the Hawkesbury Gold Cup at Hawkesbury. Photo by Steve Hart.

The 2017 Sydney Autumn Carnival has been plagued by wet tracks and Attard is hoping the trend continues although the track on Wednesday morning has been rated a good 4 for the standalone Metropolitan ranked meeting at Hawkesbury on the weekend.

Kellyville Flyer is a winner of two of her three race starts on a heavy track and is coming off a last start win on a heavy 8 surface in a 1400m BenchMark 100 Handicap at Randwick on April 15.

“You saw at Randwick that the wetter the better for her,” Attard told the Hawkesbury Gazette.

“The plan was always that Randwick race into the cup and we thought the way the weather has been we might strike two wet tracks, which would have been perfect.

“She is going to get in with 53kg and on soft ground she would be very hard to toss.

“Unfortunately it doesn’t look good for us, but the forecast is great for the club. If the track is hard we might not even run her because there would be another day for her in the winter.

“I’m also toying with the idea of running Reiby The Red in the cup if he gets a start. He is a very good miler first-up and being on his home track it would be worth giving him a chance.”

Kellyville Flyer has drawn the extreme outside barrier in the final field of sixteen plus two emergencies while Reiby The Red was relegated to second emergency with barrier twelve.

French import Spectroscope heads the four pronged attack by trainer John O’Shea in the Hawkesbury Gold Cup along with Havana Cooler, Moher and Duca Valentinois.

O’Shea had a mixed result at the barrier draw and while Moher (barrier 2), Havana Cooler (4) and Spectroscope (5) all draw inside gates, Duca Valentinois came up with barrier seventeen in the original draw.

Spectroscope settled into the Sydney style of racing with two wins from his first two starts on Australian soil in a 1350m BenchMark 89 Handicap at Rosehill on March 11 followed by a win in the Group 3 $150,000 Rydges Parramatta Doncaster Prelude (1500m) at Rosehill on March 25.

The Medaglio D’Oro four year old then found the company too slick when tenth to stablemate It’s Somewhat in the Group 1 $3m The Star Doncaster Mile (1600m) at Randwick on April 1.

The Fred Cowell trained Mighty Lucky has been given the task of carrying the top weight of 59kg and has drawn barrier thirteen with regular rider Chris O’Brien in the saddle again.

Mighty Lucky will be fitter for the run after a first up fifth to Redzel in the Group 3 $150,000 Hall Mark Stakes (1200m) at Randwick on April 15.

Sydney’s leading trained Chris Waller also has a strong hand in the Hawkesbury Gold Cup with Vanbrugh (barrier 9), Marenostro (barrier 16) and Beyond Thankful (barrier 6).

About The Author

Mark Mazzaglia

Mark is a passionate journalist with a life-time involvement in the racing industry. He spent many years as an analyst and form expert at the Courier Mail and also has hands-on experience working with some of Queensland’s top trainers.