Trainer Matthew Dale is more than happy to be forgiving of Boston Rocks’ below par stable debut and will head to Randwick on Saturday expecting a return to form.
Trainer Matthew Dale (Pic: Bradley).
The three-year-old, formerly trained by Nathan Doyle, didn’t fire in the heavy ground at Rosehill a month ago and that’s chiefly why Dale will overlook the run as any pointer to the TAB Handicap (1100m).
Dale said he had to kick Boston Rocks off on unsuitable ground and it was evident when they flattened out in the straight that he wasn’t going unleash.
“We got to that stage where he was busting to run and at some stage we were going to have to run on a heavy track,’’ Dale said.
“I thought he travelled well into the race and he didn’t let go on the wet track.
“We’ve waited a month between runs and we get that ‘no excuse’ surface so we’ll learn a lot about him.”
Boston Rocks, $7 with TAB on Wednesday, was right in the market first-up in the race won by In Flight and that’s on the back of a reputation he built by showing plenty of promise in winning three of his first four starts for his previous stable.
Dale doesn’t have any doubt about the gelding’s talent and said he still has head gear of some kind, be it a nose roll or winkers, up his sleeve but hopes Nash Rawiller is a sufficient gear change and can stand over him at Randwick.
“He’s a nice big strong horse, I think he’s got that raw ability and speed, and we’ve just got to work out what makes him tick in regard to extending away with a race,’’ Dale said.
“Even when he won in December he looked like he was going to win by a few lengths and he ended up winning by half a length.
“He’s been going well at home, I was happy with his trial going into first-up and he gets a no excuse surface.”
The Kosciuszko winning Goulburn trainer is confident he’s found the right race for another recent addition Field The Moment to capitalise on her consistent form in the TAB Highway (1800m).
The mare came to Dale with one win from 18 starts and since a breakthrough at Narrandera in June she’s continued to improve with seconds to Toes In The Water and last start behind Cranky Harry in a 1600m Highway.
That last run told Dale she has a Highway win in her.
“It was an unbelievably slow tempo up front and the $1.80 favourite was leading so we were never going to beat it,’’ he said.
“I thought she did a good job to knuckle down and get up for second off that slow tempo. It’s as good an opportunity for her to win a Highway as we’ll get so she only has to hold her form to be competitive.”
What pleased him the most about her last start was the fact she moved into fourth at the 200m and chased down the pair in front of her to claim second.
Field The Moment clearly produced the second fastest last 600m of 35.92 and last 200m in 12.07 (Punter’s Intelligence) behind the odds-on favourite and winner.
“She’s a horse with a profile of one that doesn’t like to win, she had to win on default at Narrandera because she was so well placed,’’ Dale said.
“That’s something in the back of the mind but I thought she chose to get up and run second last start where she could have gone through motions and run third or fourth.
“She’s only got to reproduce that intent and she’s hard to beat again.”
Meanwhile, Dale reported dual Kosciuszko champ Front Page is in pre-training and will be returning to his stable soon.
– Racing NSW
