Monsieur Gustave on trial for Summer sprints in Glasshouse Handicap

Back to back feature sprint wins by Monsieur Gustave in the Listed $175,000 HMR Projects Glasshouse Handicap (1400m) at the Sunshine Coast on Saturday will see the four year chase more riches over the Summer Carnival.

Jockey Adam Hyeronimus, above winnning on the Gai Waterhouse trained Ecuador at Randwick, rides Monsieur Gustave in the Glasshouse handicap at the Sunshine Coast. Photo by Steve Hart.

Jockey Adam Hyeronimus, above winnning on the Gai Waterhouse trained Ecuador at Randwick, rides Monsieur Gustave in the Glasshouse Handicap at the Sunshine Coast. Photo by Steve Hart.

The Darryl Hansen trained Monsieur Gustave was able to score a narrow win over In His Stride in the Listed $175,000 City Of Ipswich Eye Liner Stakes (1350m) at Ipswich on June 17 and the Sunshine Coast trainer is certain he will race well again.

Hansen has reported that the Al Maher gelding has trained on well and is eyeing off the feature sprints over the Summer Carnival.

“He’s a very good horse and he’s really come on since the Eye Liner,” Hansen told Racing Queensland News.

“He should race well and if he does I’ll put him away and aim for the summer sprint series in Brisbane with him.”

Hansen said that Monsieur Gustave had always shown plenty of ability but his career has been restricted to only fourteen starts to date because of several bouts of shin soreness.

“He had a lot of problems early on with shin soreness,” Hansen said.

Monsieur Gustave goes up 1kg to 55kg with Adam Hyeronimus taking over from apprentice Tiffani Broker who rides Banda Spice for Stuart Kendrick while In His Stride, with Paul Hammersley retaining the ride, stays on the minimum 54kg.

The Glasshouse Handicap has turned into a wide open betting race with Monsieur Gustave listed at $11 at Ladbrokes.com.au while the Desleigh Forster trained Too Good To Refuse heads the market order at $6.

Sharing the second line of betting at $7 are last year’s Glasshouse Handicap winner Flamboyer and the talented The Virginian with the Bruce Hill trained Man Of His Word also in contention at $7.50.

Too Good To Refuse has produced some good Winter Carnival form that has seen him finish a close second to Miss Gunpowder in the Listed $100,000 Makers Mark Hinkler Handicap (1200m) at Doomben on June 10 followed by a fast finishing third to Burning Passion in the Group 3 $175,000 W.J. Healy Stakes (1200m) at Doomben last Saturday.

Robbie Fradd has been aboard Too Good To Refuse for his last two starts and gets the ride again in the Glasshouse Handicap.

About The Author

Mark Mazzaglia

Mark is a passionate journalist with a life-time involvement in the racing industry. He spent many years as an analyst and form expert at the Courier Mail and also has hands-on experience working with some of Queensland’s top trainers.