Gallante is set to have just his second race start in the 2015 Dato’ Tan Chin Nam Stakes tomorrow and co-owner Nick Williams admits that he is unsure what to expect from the imported stayer in the Group 2 event at Moonee Valley.
Steven Arnold has been booked to ride Gallante in the 2015 Dato’ Tan Chin Nam Stakes this weekend. Photo by: Race Horse Photos Australia
Gallante took out the Group 1 Grand Prix De Paris (2400m) at Longchamp in France last year before he was purchased by Team Williams and he finished 13th in the Group 3 Victoria Handicap (1400m) at Caulfield on April 4 in his only race start in the autumn.
Williams told Racing Ahead that Gallante has done everything right ahead of the start of his 2015 Spring Racing Carnival, but he is worried that the Montjeu entire may be outpaced in the early stages of the Dato’ Tan Chin Nam Stakes.
“He had a poke around in that race,” Williams said.
“We like to try to give them a run in the autumn to help them acclimatize and they seem to have their break better if they have that run.
“He arrived here in the first week of January and he is an interesting horse.
“He was trained by Andre Fabre and we would be fools if we thought that we could improve one of his because he is probably one of the greatest trainers in the world.
“If we get him to the form that he showed for Andre over his trip he will be a very good horse.
“Whether he has got the speed to be competitive in tomorrow’s race I am not sure, but we are hoping that he will be hitting the line in the final stages of the race.”
Gallante has been included in the nominations for the 2015 Melbourne Cup and Team Williams have run previous Melbourne Cup winners Efficient and Green Moon in the Dato’ Tan Chin Nam Stakes, but Williams said that he does not know enough about the four-year-old to determine whether he will be a genuine contender in ‘the race that stops a nation’.
“We knew a bit more about those horses than we do about this horse,” Williams said.
“I don’t want to sound like I am throwing off the punters, but we really don’t know enough about this guy yet.
“It is his first proper preparation for us, he is without question a really nice horse, but I don’t know whether he is going to run a good race tomorrow or whether he won’t be able to keep up.”
Gallante is currently available at 2015 Dato’ Tan Chin Nam Stakes odds of $41 with Ladbrokes, while Contributer ($1.75) remains a clear favourite from Mourinho ($6.50), The Cleaner ($6.50) and Big Memory ($12).
