In-form three year old Lord Of The Sky heads up a small band of nominations for the Group 3 $150,000 Bletchingly Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield on Saturday.
Lord Of The Sky heads the Bletchingly Stakes nominations at Caulfield. Photo by Race Horse Photos Australia.
The Melbourne Racing Club was forced to extend nominations for the weight for age sprint until 10am on Tuesday after only eight horses were entered today.
Early rivals for the Robbie Laing trained Danerich colt are the Mick Price trained Le Bonsir, Ready To Rip from the Peter Moody stable plus Gig, Nearest The Pin, Rain Fast, Thaimandi, and Winta Chiller.
Laing has Lord Of The Sky firing on all cylinders with the three year old leaving his older rivals stranded at his first attempt at weight for age with a four and a half lengths win in the Group 3 $135,000 Polytrack Sir John Monash Stakes (1100m) at Caulfield on July 5.
“He was dominant,” Laing told The Australian after the Monash Stakes win.
“Against that type of horse with that weight, he just left them for dead.”
Winning Sir John Monash Stakes jockey Dwayne Dunn was having his first ride on Lord Of The Sky after a short freshen up following apprentice Kayla Nisbet’s win on him over 1000m at Caulfield on May 17.
Dunn was impressed with the win and was surprised with the ease he was able to put the rest for away.
“I was probably questioning him a bit. He was winning but he has been well-placed and the way he was been doing it was off the front, dominating,” Dunn said.
“It’s always a big ask when you go up to the better grade of horses that can sit on top of you and really give you a kick.
“I think that sort of stamped his authority that he’s the real deal.”
Laing was a bit tentative in stepping Lord Of The Sky up to the 1100m of the Sir John Monash Stakes but a win over the 1200m on Saturday in the Bletchingly Stakes could tempt the Cranbourne trainer to step him up again in distance to 1400m in the Group 1 $400,000 Memsie Stakes at Caulfield on August 30.
“If he wins the Bletchingly, I’d love to run him in the Memsie,” Laing said.
“I must apologise to the horse, I doubt him all the time but it was very good.
“He’s a very good horse and he can improve.”
Le Bonsir chased home Lord Of The Sky for the runner’s up cheque in the Sir John Monash Stakes and looks to have the task ahead to turn the tables under the same conditions.
The Choisir six year old has been racing consistently and has recorded four placings from his last five starts.
As well as taking on Lord Of The Sky again, Le Bonsir will be tackling Nearest The Pin again after finishing a narrow second to the Leon Macdonald and Andrew Gluyas trained gelding in the Listed $150,000 All Victorian Sprint Series Final (1200m) at Flemington on July 12.
