Headline jockey Jim Cassidy is confident that Foreteller will handle the drop back to 1800m in the Group 2 $358,000 Wimmers Soft Drinks A. D. Hollindale Stakes at the Gold Coast today after a tough Sydney Autumn campaign.
Foreteller winning the Group 1 Ranvet Stakes at Rosehill. Photo by Steve Hart.
Trainer Chris Waller has given Foreteller a quick freshen up since finishing a close fifth to Fiveandahalfstar in the Group 1 $2.25m The BMW (2400m) at Rosehill on April 6 and the six year old has Cassidy licking his lips.
“I trialled him since his last run and he felt great. He’s a live chance,” Cassidy said.
Cassidy was aboard Foreteller when fourth in last year’s Hollindale Stakes and acknowledges the six year old has improved over the last twelve months which was evident with the pair combining to take out the Group 1 $400,000 Ranvet Stakes (2000m) at Rosehill two starts back.
“You can see he’s clearly a better horse now and it’s full steam ahead,” Cassidy said.
“He went to Melbourne and won, then got out of his comfort zone in the Australian Cup and came back to Sydney and won the Ranvet.
“He was also competitive in the BMW. They quickened off the pace and then sprinted, which left him a bit flat-footed and he finished off good.”
Foreteller showed gradual improvement since last year’s Winter Carnival and showed that he was a serious racehorse when Waller took him to Melbourne early in the Autumn to win the Group 2 $220,000 Carlton Draught Peter Young Stakes (1800m) at Caulfield on February 23.
Waller then took on Group 1 company in the $1m Darley Australian Cup (2000m) at Flemington on March 9 but Foreteller was never a threat.
With the scratching of Stout Hearted, Waller is left with two runners in the Hollindale Stakes with Brisbane jockey Larry Cassidy taking over from brother Jim on Danleigh.
The nine year old warhorse is coming off a fifth to stablemate Sacred Falls in the Group 1 $2m BMW Doncaster Mile (1600m) at Randwick on April 20 and is always a chance at weight for age.
Danleigh is having his first attempt beyond 1600m but Larry Cassidy can’t see that being a problem.
“He’s proven himself time and time again in weight-for-age races and his last couple of runs have been really good in much harder races than this,” Cassidy said.
“The Waller stable is flying and I think this horse is a genuine winning chance.”
The Peter Moody trained Lights Of Heaven heads the market at $2.90 on the strength of her last start win in the Group 3 $125,000 Neville Sellwood Stakes (2000m) at Rosehill on April 6.
Foreteller is next in the betting at $4 just ahead of local hope Solzhenitsyn at $4.50 and Lamasery at $8 with Danleigh also given a chance at $10.
