It may just be a starting point but trainer John Sargent says it’s important Perfect Thought is competitive at Rosehill on Saturday to set up an ambitious spring campaign.
Trainer John Sargent (Pic: Steve Hart).
The Group 3 winning four-year-old is one of a number of spring hopefuls returning in the TAB Handicap (1400m) and Sargent said he’s there to make his presence felt, wary the races won’t be getting any easier.
“You’d like to see him winning or being right there because he’s going to find a lot of harder horses after this to race against,’’ Sargent said.
“He’s done enough work, he maps very nice from the draw and I’d expect him to go very well first-up. Good horses do and hopefully he can show that he is a good horse.”
Perfect Thought stamped his promise with an impressive win in the Carbine Club Stakes at Flemington last spring but a range of issues meant his autumn was restricted to just two starts.
But his second behind boom stayer Kovalica in the Group 2 Queensland Guineas (1600m) at the end of April was enough to support Sargent’s view he’s a potential topliner in the making.
“I put him aside after I found out he was back to his best in the Queensland Guineas,’’ he said.
“He was pretty crook before that and we missed the early part of the campaign. He had six or seven weeks out and I’m convinced he will be better at four and five.
“He seems fit, his last trial was good. He’s obviously not screwed right down but he’s fit enough to be hard to beat from the draw on a good track.”
Jockey Kerrin McEvoy worked Perfect Thought, $10 with TAB on Thursday, over 1000m on the Kensington track on Tuesday and gave the horse a tick of approval.
Sargent said he looked strong through the line and had a blow after the gallop.
He said he’d like to take advantage of a handy draw and be in the first half of the field, and if that’s the case it will give him every chance to finish off.
“He could be either in the one-one or two-one, fifth or sixth, he has a bit of early speed but I don’t want him up fighting out for the lead,’’ he said.
“If he runs well we’ll work out where we go, whether we stay here and have another run or go down to Melbourne.”
Waverley is likely to kick off his preparation in the Inglis Pink Bonus Handicap (1300m).
The colt showed some talent in his first campaign which culminated in a close third in the Group 3 Baillieu (1400m) back in March.
Sargent expects Waverley to improve both with the run and a little more ground but is anticipating a cheeky fresh effort.
“He’s a nice horse on the way up. His run in the Baillieu was a nice run and at 1300m first-up he will be hitting the line,’’ he said.
“It looks a nice race to kick him off, the top two will be hard to beat but it’s against three-year-olds for good money.”
– Racing NSW
