Trainer Joseph Pride is hopeful that veteran sprinters Tiger Tees and Title can return to the winners circle during their 2014 Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival preparations.
Tiger Tees will be chasing his first race win in eighteen months when he begins his autumn campaign. Photo by: Steve Hart
Tiger Tees has performed well at the highest level of racing throughout his career and has recorded two wins at Group 3 level, but failed to fire during his 2013 Spring Racing Carnival campaign; finishing eighth in the Group 2 The Shorts (1100m) and tenth in the Group 2 Premiere Stakes (1200m).
Pride told Sky Racing HQ this morning that he believes the son of Dubawi has lost the confidence to win and will be doing all he can to place the six-year-old in the easiest possible races when he begins his autumn campaign.
“He is a good sprinter and he has managed to win nine races,” Pride said.
“His last couple of preparations have been pretty disappointing and he really needs to post a win this preparation.
“We are going to try and place him pretty aggressively first-up and place him in the easiest possible grade that we can.
“I want to get him back in the winners’ circle and I just have a feeling he has lost a bit of that confidence.
“On only one occasion he has won by any kind of margin, he has just fought them off, and that that has been his greatest asset.
“Hopefully that is back in his armory this year.”
Title has not been seen at the races since he finished towards the tail of the field in the Group 3 Bill Ritchie Handicap (1400m) at Royal Randwick on September 21 and has not recorded a race win since he took out the Listed McCarten Stakes (1100m) at Rosehill Gardens during the 2012 Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival.
The Honours List gelding has produced the majority of his best form on wet tracks, winning the 2011 Takeover Target Stakes (1200m) on rain affected going, and Pride is hopeful that there is a bit of rain around in Sydney for the seven-year-old this autumn.
“He has been a fantastic horse,” Pride said.
“He likes a wet track, something which we can’t always get him on, but when he gets on a soft track he is a genuine Group 3 horse.”
Pride’s stable star Rain Affair will begin his 2014 Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival campaign in the Group 2 Expressway Stakes (1200m) at Royal Randwick on Saturday.
