He Who Handles The Wet Shall Be Spring Champion

Rekindled Alliance

The potential slow track at Randwick is a query for Rekindled Alliance

The Spring Champion Stakes looms as a real interesting contest this weekend at Randwick Racecourse with a crack field of horses ready to take on what is a tricky event.

This will be the first time these three year olds get out to the 2000m trip and with the wet weather that’s hanging around Sydney at the moment a likely slow track throws up yet another query.

For the trainer of Rekindled Alliance, Paul Messara, he’s confident the distance will be to his horses liking but he has no clue as to how the track might play.

“It’s not perfect, I’m not really sure how my bloke is going to handle it,” he said.

“Hopefully it improves by Saturday and we can get to the dead side of slow.”

He says if he were to perform as his breeding suggests he might be ok but he’s unlikely to revel in the conditions.

“I can only really go off his pedigree, his full brother got through it but didn’t love it,” he said.

“One will thrive in it and the rest will battle through it, it’s hard to know which one.”

He does see one positive in the rain though and that’s the fact his wide draw of gate 10 may be slightly nullified with horses looking to get off the fence.

“I was cursing when the barriers came out, it was always awkward,” he said.

“As it turns out that could turn out being the best part of the track by race six.

“We’ll just have to see how the weather turns out and how it plays.”

Rekindled Alliance comes here like many through the Spring Stakes at Newcastle where he finished second to Darci Be Good in a really competitive contest.

“It was pretty compact at the finish there, I think the first three horses are all in it,” Messara said.

He says while he would have obviously liked a victory he saw enough promise to suggest he’s in the thick of it this weekend.

“Always disappointing not to win but when they still do a lot wrong and manage to come second by a neck it’s a good effort,” he said.

Messara wouldn’t be drawn into any definite path following this event simply saying he’s treating it as grand final, even if there’s a chance the grand final might be replayed.

“Races like the Victoria Derby are a pretty big carrot for the owners,” he said.

“We’ll just have to see, for me as a trainer this was the grand final and he’ll be fantastic in the autumn.”

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