Gary Nickson has contemplated rare interstate excursions in the hope of find of finding a dry track for Felix Majestic, but the frustrated Warwick Farm trainer is giving Sydney’s weather one last chance.
His stable star’s lone nomination this weekend is for the $160,000 benchmark 88 over 1400 metres at Saturday’s Randwick meeting.
The four-year-old’s only start this campaign has been a second-last placing in the Listed June Stakes (1100m) on a Heavy 9 track at Randwick on June 8, which confirmed that he should be kept away from wet tracks.
Nickson entertained taking Felix Majestic to Queensland for last Saturday’s $300,000 Group 3 Glasshouse Handicap, but was put off by Queensland weather, which ultimately caused that meeting’s abandonment, and even considered a rare trip to Melbourne for a 1400m race this Saturday.
But with rain predicted in Melbourne on Tuesday and Thursday, Nickson elected to put his eggs in the Sydney basket with fine weather predicted on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
“He is just hopeless on the wet tracks,” Nickson said.
“I scratched him on the Wednesday from the Civic Stakes because the track was no good and I brought him over here (to Randwick) on the Friday because they had one or two trials on the PolyTrack and, if you get a look at the trial, he went enormous.
“He just wants a dry track and we can’t get one.”
Felix Majestic, a son of Smart Missile, has had 18 starts for six wins, all of which have come on Good tracks.
He has one third placing from three runs on Soft tracks and is unplaced from three starts on Heavy tracks.
Another missed run this weekend could force Nickson to look out west in the hope of drier ground.
“In about four or five weeks’ time there is the Forbes Cup, if he runs one-two there he gets into the Big Dance,” he said.
“He’s a frontrunner and it (Forbes) is a tight track. There are a few options.”
The $50,000 Forbes Cup (1600m) will be run on Sunday, August 4.
– RAS NewsWire
