Sydney’s leading trainer Chris Waller won’t be tying down Dwayne Dunn with any specific riding tactics for Said Com going into Saturday’s Rosehill Guineas.
Said Com has drawn the outside barrier (18) for the Rosehill Guineas - photo (c) Steve Hart
Said Com came up with a horror barrier draw in the Group 1 $500,000 Flinders Lane Rosehill Guineas (2000m) at Rosehill and will start from the outside of eighteen.
But Waller is not worried and said if Dunn can reproduce his ride which saw Said Com just get run down by top Victorian filly Mosheen in the Group 1 $500,000 Turnpoint Royal Randwick Guineas (1600m) at Randwick two weeks ago, the barrier won’t be a problem.
“He’s the perfect horse for a bad draw he’s very adaptable and we’ve probably sacrificed him a couple of times to teach him by going back,” Waller said.
“I hope that’ll all be repaid in a race like Saturday’s race, by getting back and the horse knowing what to do from that point on.”
“It was a 10 out of 10 ride last start and probably made the horse look a little bit better. Another ride like that would certainly see him in the finish.”
Said Com sprang into Rosehill Guineas calculations with that narrow second at Randwick after coming out of restricted grade at his previous start.
The O’Reilly three year old will certainly appreciate the extra trip on Saturday and the 2400m of the Australian Derby looks inviting.
Waller is also upbeat about the chances of Hoylonny even though he has drawn two from the outside.
“It’s probably not going to worry his racing style too much, he naturally gets a slow getaway and doesn’t have a lot of tactical speed,” Waller said.
“He’ll just go back and we’ll ride him for luck. We’ve got Big Time in there as well and he has drawn well, and he’ll use his gate to roll forward and put a bit of pressure on up front.”
“In group one racing, anything can happen, you can still get caught three wide from barrier three and you can have bad luck drawing barrier one.”
“It’s the time of the year where you do need to run and hope for a bit of luck anyway.”
Waller put Hoylonny to the test in the Group 2 $180,000 BMW Caulfield Autumn Classic (1800m) at Caulfield on February 25 and he wasn’t disgraced when a solid fourth to Upbeat.
Michael Rodd will take over from Nash Rawiller on Hoylonny on Saturday and Corey Brown will ride Waller’s other runner Big Time.
Guineas favourite, New Zealand filly Silent Achiever has also drawn the car park but still remains at the head of the market at $4 with Said Com on the fourth line of betting at $9.50 with the Anthony Cummings trained Strike The Stars.
The Gai Waterhouse trained Laser Hawk ($6.50) and Kiwi Ocean Park ($7.50) are squeezed inbetween.
