Improving young stayer Radical could enhance his reputation even further if he can win the $150,000 Victorian Spring Garden & Lifestyle Show VOBIS Gold Heath (2000m) at Caulfield on Saturday.
Improving stayer Radical gets his chance to win back to back races at Caulfield in the VOBIS Gold Heath. Photo by Adrienne Bicknell.
Radical is chasing back to back wins over the Caulfield 2000m and his third win from his last four starts and trainer Peter Moody believes the Dubleo three year old has a bright staying future.
“He has trained on very well. This horse grows on me every time I do a bit with him and he heads into tomorrow’s race in very good shape,” Moody told RSN.
“He’ll take good improvement off that again and he goes into this in real good shape tomorrow.”
Radical scored three runs back over 1600m ay Moonee Valley for Jackie Beriman but the apprentice was out of luck when they lined up again at Flemington over 1610m and after beginning awkwardly was back in the second half of the field and then had trouble finding the way clear between the 400m and the 100m.
Moody then decided to back the gelding up the next week at Caulfield and new rider Jake Bayliss made sure that Radical had plenty of galloping room and started his move from back in the field at the 600m, circling the field to hit the front at the top of straight and go on to record a solid win.
“Jake did what he had to do to win and it probably wasn’t pretty and the horse really held on strongly in the run to the line off the seven day back up,” Moody said.
Damien Oliver takes over from Bayliss on Radical this week and is one of two rides the champion jockey has for Moody on the program.
Oliver will also team up with Moody on the well-bred first starter Zandarral in the $80,000 David Hopwood Handicap (1400m) for the two year olds.
Zandarral has shown Moody some ability on the tracks but he expects the High Chaparral colt to benefit greatly from his first visit to the races.
“Zandarral is a nice colt. He is very much a work in progress. I think he is a horse that will be improved with racing,” Moody said.
“I’d like to think he will go there and run a nice race. He has a good draw.
“He strikes me as a horse that will run well and he will take a massive amount of benefit from it.”
With two metropolitan race meetings left for the 2014 – 2015 racing season, Oliver heads to Caulfield one win ahead Craig Williams in the Melbourne jockey’s premiership race.
The last metropolitan race meeting for the season will be at Ballarat on Sunday.
Oliver on fifty-eight wins is hoping the Moody pair can add to his premiership tally as he tries to hold off the challenge of Williams who also has a strong book of rides at Caulfield.
Radical heads the betting for the VOBIS Gold Heath at $3.40 with Ladbrokes.com.au while Zandarral is the early $4.60 favourite for the David Hopwood Handicap.
