Penny Veejay will get the chance to justify his boom tag when he tackles a stellar field in Saturday night’s Group 3 $40,000 Shepparton Gold Cup.
The Jayne Davies-trained blueblood was touted as one of the hottest pacers in the land after returning from a spell with stunning victories in restricted company at Cranbourne and Moonee Valley last month.
After being overlooked for a run in the SEW-Eurodrive Victoria Cup, controversially to some, he made his open class debut as a heavily-backed favourite in the Cup consolation on the same night.
Unfortunately the bubble burst to some degree when he was relegated to fourth placing, albeit after copping a mountain of pressure in front before electing to take a trail.
He quickly bounced back to winning form last Friday night at Moonee Valley and returns for his second crack at the ‘big boys’ at Shepparton this weekend.
“It’s getting close to the time he needs to stand up and be counted, but I’m sure he’ll do the job,” driver Chris Alford said.
“You’ve got to remember he was only third up from a spell in that consolation so it was a pretty good run under the circumstances.
“He then went a bit hard last week and was probably a little bit fresh, but the good thing was he was still strong at the end of the 2090 (metres)…that run will have done him the world of good.”
Drawn perfectly in barrier four, the electrifying beginner is tipped to lead and thus has been installed a $4 second elect with TAB Sportsbet.
“I’m sure that I’ll cross those on my inside at the start and I won’t be letting anything go past me if he settles,” Alford declared.
“A lot will depend on what happens in the run, but I’m confident that he’ll run a really good race, especially from the draw.”
In a field of great depth, Alford has labelled Sting Lika Bee ($3.50, barrier six) and New Zealand speedster Winforu ($6, barrier five) as the hardest to beat in the 2670-metre feature which is timed to go at 10pm (AEST).
