Top Brisbane jockey Glen Colless will take over the reins on Tiger Tees in the Group 1 $400,000 Bundaberg Distilling Co. BTC Cup (1200m) at Doomben on Saturday.
Glen Colless will be the new rider for Tiger Tees, yellow sleeves, in the BTC Cup. Photo by Steve Hart.
Colless is no stranger to the Joe Pride trained sprinter and was aboard when he kicked off his Autumn campaign with a win in the Listed $100,000 Teac Falvelon Quality (1200m) at Eagle Farm on February 22.
Pride then took Tiger Tees back to Sydney and the tough six year old relished the slow track at Rosehill to take out the Group 1 $400,000 Bloodstock.com.au Galaxy (1100m) on March 29 with Nash Rawiller aboard.
Rawiller was again in charge when Tiger Tees ran fourth to Lankan Rupee in the Group 1 $2.5m Darley T J Smith Stakes (1200m) at Randwick on April 12 then Hugh Bowman took over when third in the Group 1 $400,000 Schweppes All Aged Stakes (1400m) at Randwick on April 26 with Rawiller riding the winner, Japanese mare Hana’s Goal.
The prospect of another wet track on Saturday has buoyed the confidence of Pride with the Bureau Of Meteorology forecasting rain for later in the week.
“I’m liking the idea of the rain,” Pride told AAP.
“Tiger is in great shape. He will travel to Brisbane on Thursday.
“He has been so good this preparation. I even thought his run in the Challenge Stakes was good.”
The weight for age BTC Cup has attracted a high quality group of sprinters including Group 1 winners Buffering, Snitzerland and stablemates Temple Of Boom and Spirit Of Boom.
While Pride can see a rain affected track as a distinct advantage for Tiger Tees, he knows that it is still going to be a tough assignment for his hardy sprinter with the barrier draw to play a huge part in his winning chances.
“It will all come down to barriers,” Pride said.
“If we draw inside Buffering then I wouldn’t want to hand up the lead to him so we just have to wait and see what we come up with.”
Local hero Buffering is now a clear cut favourite for the BTC Cup at $2.25 following the withdrawal of the Darley three year old Sidestep due to injury.
Spirit Of Boom and Hot Snitzel now share the second line of betting at $7 just ahead of Snitzerland at $8 with Temple Of Boom at $9 while Tiger Tees has been assessed as a $13 chance.
