Make Mine Cullen will look to continue her dominant record in mares grade this weekend at Tabcorp Park
Leading trainer Glenn Douglas will be trying to add to his Mildura and Geelong Cup success with the New-Zealand bred Heza Trick when he takes on the Bold David FFA at Tabcorp Park Melton this Friday night.
The six-year-old gelding finished an unlucky ninth in the Group 1 Len Smith Mile last start and Douglas was upbeat about his prospects this weekend, citing his main danger as Jaccka Clive who is drawn just inside him on the second row.
“We were very happy with his Len Smith Mile run,” he said
“Aikey’s (David Aiken) horse likes it tough and our bloke can be driven tough too, we can drive our horse either way so we’ve got no set plans.”
After this weekend Douglas has plans to keep Heza Trick ticking over for the next month.
“We have aspirations of taking him to Queensland for the Winter Carnival up there but there’s a lot of time and a lot of things happen between now and then so we’ll just see,” he said.
Tabcorp Park Melton will also host the return of wonder mare Make Mine Cullen who is back after a short freshen up following the Mildura Carnival.
“Although she does improve with racing I feel we’ve done enough at home to have her right to be right in the finish again this weekend.
“For the moment her future is in mares grade, we’ve tried her in the big leagues and she was just a bit below them but against the mares she’s still very very competitive,” Douglas said.
To round off his night Douglas has the Tontine winner Saint Flash and Timeless Era in separate semi-finals of the Empire Stallions Vicbred Super Series for four year old entires and geldings.
“Saint Flash has probably got the preferable draw, hopefully the one can hold up behind the leader and we end up three back the fence and can get our chance along the sprint lane,” he said.
“Timeless Era lacks a bit of speed and has to be driven aggressive, whether that’s aggressive from back in the field or aggressive in the death he’s just that type of horse.”