Dubbo preview: Trainer Paul Clisby says don’t write off his gelding after one bad run

Paul Clisby is hoping a nightmare run in the Highway will turn into a dream outcome for one of his five Dubbo-bound runners on Monday.

Your Song (pictured), the sire of Midnight Dream, who races at Dubbo on Monday.

Paul Clisby is warning punters not to punish local gelding Midnight Dream for his forgettable performance in a memorable TAB Highway in what shapes as a happy homecoming for horse and trainer on Monday.

The son of Your Song had been holding together a high level of consistency in his sequence of Central West assignments this winter, prompting Clisby to have a crack at a TAB Highway.

Unfortunately for him, it was the same Highway chosen by Paul Messara and Leah Gavranrich with boom mare Clear Thinking.

On top of that, Midnight Dream struck a Heavy 8 and, worse still, barrier two turned out to be more of a curse than a blessing.

“He is a funny type of a horse,’’ Clisby said.

“We don’t think he really likes the inside and getting crowded.

“He sort of puts his head up and doesn’t really want to take part in it.

“His go is he is a bit of a backmarker and he likes to get on the outside of horses.

“And he hasn’t really performed great on a heavy track ­before.

“He’s definitely got talent but he is a naughty horse. He is all right to ride but he is a naughty horse in the box and in the float.

“Travelling that far to Sydney, too, he didn’t really stop moving the whole time in the float.”

Midnight Dream won’t have nearly as far to travel on Monday when he lines up for 11th start at Dubbo, the same venue where two of his three wins have come.

Clisby has several winning prospects on the Dubbo card, including Starane, who has been known to inject himself into the placings and often at generous odds.

“He is just a bit unlucky with the wide gate but it wouldn’t ­surprise me if he gets a nice run and gets a slot in somewhere,’’ Clisby said.

“He is probably a good winning chance in that race on talent and his work has been up to par.

“He raced all right last start. He had 61kg and they just went a bit quick up front.

“And that last 200m was telling for him and it was a bit of a day for backmarkers.

“So when we went back through the race, I am going to give him that excuse.’’

Starane’s last two runs at Dubbo were in much better class given the respective winners of those races were Elson Boy and Kosciuszko contender Compelling Truth.

Clisby could send his supporters home beyond happy should the $23 outsider Rolled Gold turn his from around in the Tooheys Old Handicap (1420m).

“He definitely can improve,’’ the trainer said.

“His first run, he was wide and went forward, and then the other day at Mudgee he pulled very hard in the run and I think it was just a month between runs. He was a bit fresh.

“But I expect him to run a lot better race.

“I don’t mind the wide gate because he can get back and he seems to find his best form coming around them.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he ran a really good race, actually.’’

Clisby’s remaining runners on the program are Mission Mummabear and He’s All Style.

“I think from that barrier Mission Mummabear will be up on the speed a little bit and I think she will run a fair race,’’ Clisby said.

“If she runs as well as what she did at her second start, she should be thereabouts.

“On his work, you would say He’s All Style is a good thing but he just does a few things wrong and over-races a little bit.’’

Quirindi preview; Groth hoping for cards to fall his way

Gavin Groth is hoping for a track upgrade and a handful of scratchings so he can get things started with one-time brief Giga Kick stablemate Barrieanna at Quirindi on Monday.

The Victorian-bred daughter of Impending is scheduled to make her somewhat anticipated debut in the Choices Flooring Maiden Plate over 1000m but will only start if a bleak set of circumstances improves.

“She is ready to go to the races,’’ Groth said.

“We will just try to get it right with her.

“The idea of taking her to Quirindi for her first start centred on her being a bit of a jump-and-run type and it is more or less who gets to the bend first as Quirindi rolls down the hill.

“She has drawn wide but I think we have come into 12 already and it is not a strong field.’’

Barrieanna is a third-generation direct descendant of four-time Group 1 winner Mannerism, who was nothing short of a mudlark.

While “her mother was a mudder”, Groth is not entirely convinced Barrieanna is at home on heavy ground.

“She does need it a little bit firmer than the heavy,’’ he said.

“She’s been working well at home and she actually has got better on the (soft) ground.

“She is adapting to it because that’s all we have been working on for the last two months or more.

“The trackwork rider got off her on Saturday morning and he said ‘I think this filly is a little bit better than you think she is’, so I am hoping that that might be the case.’’

Groth’s other runner on the Quirindi card is the eminently speedy Showtime Sassy, who seems well catered for in the Thanks For Your Service Browning Motors Maiden Handicap (1200m).

The daughter of Showtime had been threatening to win a race all preparation, hence her $2.90 SP at Gunnedah last start when she faded late in a 1300m maiden.

“I was disappointed with the result,’’ Groth said.

“She just did too much work early and she got attacked by a 100/1 shot, which evidently ran last and we stuck on for fourth.

“She probably didn’t run the trip, either.

“Quirindi is downhill from about the 800m, she is drawn well and weighted well, and the race looks like it is well suited to her.’’

Originally published as Dubbo preview: Trainer Paul Clisby says don’t write off his gelding after one bad run