Darci Be Good is not favoured for the Spring Champion Stakes despite impressive prep

It’s hard to think a horse that’s won two from three this prep could be overlooked going into his next start, especially given he’s already accounted for all the horses more favoured than him in the market.

That’s exactly the case for Darci Be Good though which sits around the fourth pick for the Group 1 Spring Champion Stakes this weekend.

Above him are Strike The Stars, Ambidexter and Rekindled Alliance, all of which he’s beaten convincingly this campaign.

Trainer Bede Murray obviously isn’t too worried about all that but he does find it slightly strange people don’t seem to want to warm to the horse.

“Strike The Stars had had two runs coming into that race and we beat him first up over that distance,” he said.

“He’s probably just a little bit immature, but he’s beaten all of those horses.”

The weather can’t be blamed for it either given Darci Be Good is proven across good ground and wet tracks.

“He’s won on both it doesn’t worry us very much…I’m not too concerned about the weather,” Murray said.

Darci Be Good won the Spring Stakes at Newcastle last start over a mile beating both Rekindled Alliance and Amidexter in the process.

Since then Murray has employed a very specific training plan to have him firing for this weekend.

“He went down to the farm for five or six days…he came back to Kembla last Thursday morning,” he said.

“He’s not a heavy big robust horse, he had two strong workouts on Thursday and Saturday.

“This morning he didn’t work so hard then I’ll just give him a little blowout Thursday morning and that’ll peak him up for Saturday.”

Darci Be Good has been somewhat of a revelation for the Murray camp this preparation and even they admit they didn’t expect him to get to the level he has.

“We never really expected him in the spring to reach the heights that he has, when they’re not really mature you need to make sure you don’t overdo them,” he said.

“He’s a horse that’ll come to his peak without working him too hard.”

With that in mind Murray remains adamant the Spring Champion Stakes will be the final run for Darci Be Good this time in.

“He’ll go out after Saturday and I believe working it this way he’ll come back an even stronger horse in the autumn,” he said.