Hokko Brave has remained rock solid at 2015 Caulfield Cup odds of $15 throughout the week, but connections are confident that the Japanese stayer is ready to run well in the feature race at Caulfield tomorrow.
Craig Williams is set to ride Hokko Brave in the 2015 Caulfield Cup this weekend. Photo by: Adrienne Bicknell
Hokko Brave has been in Australia for almost a month and he has built gradually for the Caulfield Cup with a variety of different forms of track work at the Werribee International Equine Centre.
Trainer Yasutoshi Matsunaga arrived in Australia overnight and stable representative Hiroshi Ando told Sky Racing HQ that Matsunaga had been thrilled with the way that Hokko Brave has settled in Australia ahead of the 2015 Caulfield Cup.
“The trainer was really happy with how he looks,” Ando said.
“He is really impressed with how he has settled in here.
“He is a really, really tough horse.
“His racing style is to come off the pace with a really quick finish, but he could adapt to Caulfield racecourse really well.
“We are really happy and it has all gone to plan at the moment.
“He loves Australia because since he has been at the stable he has really relaxed.”
Hokko Brave has shown a degree of tactical versatility during his racing career to date, but connections of the seven-year-old are yet to reveal how they plan to ride him from barrier 13 in the Caulfield Cup.
Ando said that Caulfield Cup tactics will likely be left up to jockey Craig Williams, but Ando revealed that he is keen to see Hokko Brave stay out of the trouble coming around the always chaotic first turn at Caulfield.
“I am not sure because Craig Williams will decide what he wants to do,” Ando said.
“One thing that I can tell you is that we are outside, so we won’t get any big traffic on the inside at the first turn.
“The stable staff and the trainer are confident that he can handle this racecourse.”
Hokko Brave has not moved from his Caulfield Cup odds of $15 since the final field and barrier draw were released on Tuesday afternoon, while the odds of Our Ivanhowe ($26), Trip To Paris ($26), Lucia Valentina ($31), Magicool ($126) and Gust Of Wind ($17) have also been rock solid,
Williams is chasing his third win in the Caulfield Cup after previously taking out the Group 1 event with Southern Speed in 2011 and Dunaden in 2012, while Hokko Brave can join Admire Rakti as the only Japanese winners of the race.
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