Conlan hoping for a wet track for Larry’s Never Late

The prospect of rain has boosted the confidence of trainer Jim Conlan for the chances of Larry’s Never Late at Doomben tomorrow.

Conlan is hoping his six year old gets a wet track tomorrow in the Group 3 $125,000 Channel Seven Premier’s Cup (2200m) at Doomben on May 26 and bounces back from a disappointing eighth at Caulfield last start.

“What will help him is that they are forecasting rain on the weekend and he does like a wet track,” Conlan said.

“He’s drawn well and should get a nice run in the race.”

Larry’s Never Late was found to be suffering from an irregular heartbeat when he failed to beat a runner home at Caulfield on May 12, but Conlan is confident he has overcome the problem.

“He was perfectly fine and sound half an hour after the race at Caulfield,” Conlan said.

“It seems a one off thing as far as he is concerned. He’s never had it before and while I haven’t had a lot of experience with it, I don’t imagine that it will happen again.”

“He seems pretty good. He’s already in Brisbane and he travelled up quite well.”

Conlan is banking on Larry’s Never Late bouncing back and justifying another attempt at the Group 2 $300,000 Australian Special Metals Brisbane Cup (2400m) at Eagle Farm on June 9 after finishing  fifth to Crossthestart two years ago.

“The Brisbane Cup should be a race that will suit him,” Conlan said.

“He’s making nice progress through each race so I would imagine he’ll be pretty fit and ready to attack the 2400m by that stage.”

This is Conlan’s third trip to Queensland with Larry’s Never Late and is looking for a win after being placed twice in 2009 and twice in 2010.

As a three year old Larry’s Never Late finished third to Rockdale in the Group 3 $125,000 Rough Habit Plate (2020m) at Doomben before being beaten less than a length by Court Ruler and Shocking in the Group 1 $500,000 Queensland Derby (2400m) at Eagle Farm.

The following Winter Conlan had to be content with a second in the Group 3 $100,000 Chairman’s Handicap (2020m) at Doomben and a third at the same track to Tabulate in the Group 3 $125,000 Premier’s Cup (2200m) before his fifth in the Brisbane Cup.

Dawyne Dunn will be the third jockey on Larry’s Never Late in as many starts and will be having his first ride on the six year old replacing Mark Zahra who rode him at Caulfield after taking over from Michael Rodd who was aboard at Randwick when third in the Listed JRA Plate (2000m) on April 21.

Larry’s Never Late is $14 in the Premier’s Cup tomorrow. The Chris Waller trained Wazn heads the market order at $4.50 ahead of three runners on $5.50, Gerald Ryan’s Ironstein, John Thompson’s Shamardashing and Anthony Freedman’s import  Fruehling.

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.