Cult Tasmanian mare to be trained remotely because of COVID-19
Mystic Journey and her trainer Adam Trinder are usually inseparable. But Coronavirus means Trinder will remain in Tassie while the champion mare takes up temporary residence with another decorated trainer.
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RESIGNED to remotely controlling Mystic Journey’s ambitious spring campaign from across Bass Strait, Tasmanian trainer Adam Trinder is confident unorthodox logistics will not impede the star mare’s progress.
TAB $4.20 favourite for the PB Lawrence Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on Saturday, the Australian Guineas and All-Star Mile winner parted company with Trinder on Wednesday night because COVID-19 restrictions.
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To be stabled with Peter Moody at Pakenham, Mystic Journey will be managed by senior Trinder staff member Steff Waugh while Trinder remains at home to look after the rest of his team.
Poised to launch into a program crammed with Group 1 targets – including the Memsie, Underwood and Makybe Diva Stakes ahead of a possible centenary Cox Plate tilt – Trinder is bullish over the five-year-old’s prospects.
“She’s really well placed going ahead to her first-up assignment (on) Saturday,” Trinder said.
“She’s really well placed moving ahead into the 1400m first-up, she’s as forward as what she was last year for this race, an event we were fortunate enough to win.
“She obviously will take improvement as she moves through the preparation but I think she’s going to go there and be really competitive and bounce out of the run and improve.”
To be ridden for the first time by Billy Egan, Mystic Journey has drawn barrier nine in a Lawrence field of 11, with seven individual Group 1 winners assembled.
“It’s a Group 2, it’s a really competitive race, there’s nowhere to hide at this level,” Trinder said.
“I expect that she’ll improve going into the Memsie Stakes and then beyond.
“It will be different training from afar, but it’s a unique situation.”
Trinder said the move to place Mystic Journey with Moody at Pakenham was largely because the venue is not as frenetic as Caulfield or Flemington.
“The decision with the dynamics of what were are faced with was quite easy. It’s the best placement for her,” he said.
“There’s only about 300 horses at Pakenham and about 50 or 60 on track in an hour, so that’s what appealed.”
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Trinder has campaigned successfully in Melbourne over the past two years by sending ‘Betty’ to Melbourne on the Spirit Of Tasmania.
Trinder said the Spirit Of Tasmania’s temporary conversion to a cargo vessel meant it was a longer trip between states.
WA mare Arcadia Queen and Savatiano ($5) share the second line of betting ahead of Regal Power ($5.50) and Streets Of Avalon ($8).
WA STAR PIKE RETURNS FOR SPRING
Champion West Australian jockey William Pike hopes to replicate the success of a breakthrough Melbourne autumn in the upcoming spring carnival.
The taste of Melbourne feature races, which culminated in Regal Power winning the $5 million All Star Mile, was the catalyst for Pike moving to Victoria to ride the Bob Peters-owned WA spring raiders.
Pike has rides on Friday at Geelong and Saturday at Caulfield where, among others, the champion hoop will carry the famous Peters’ cerise and white silks on Regal Power and Showmanship.
The open-ended three-month campaign is Pike’s longest outside WA, since the eight-time Group 1 winner rode in Hong Kong about a decade ago.
Regal Power‘s autumn campaign, runner-up in the Group 1 Australian Cup before an emphatic All Star Mile win, convinced Pike he could in fact mix it with the best of the best on the east coast.
“I always had the self-belief but until you put the runs on the board you get that little voice on the shoulder asking you ‘what you’re doing here’,” Pike said.
“Lucky enough to get on a horse like Regal Power … I knew it was my (best) shot to get it done and luckily we did.”
Pike is under no illusions, however, about the competitiveness of the spring carnival and a Victorian jockeys’ room bursting with world class jockeys.
“I don’t expect things to be very easy,” Pike said.
“They want to win the races themselves.”
Pike wants to ride as much as possible in Melbourne and Victoria, as long as it fits in with Peters’ plans for star gallopers Regal Power, Arcadia Queen, Superstorm, Perfect Jewel and Showmanship
“I’m looking forward to reuniting with Regal Power (on Saturday),” Pike said.
“Seeing if we can continue the success from before.
“I always treat each (campaign like a) new campaign, you’re a bit older, a bit slower, so you got to get stronger, almost like a boxing ring, every fight is closer to the one (fight) you get beat.
“I approach racing a bit like that, I don’t take anything for granted, I expect him (Regal Power) to run well but how he’s come back only time will tell.”
Pike has been allowed to ride some strictly controlled track work while in quarantine in Bendigo.
The isolation and potential for the spring to be raced behind limited — if any — crowds and fanfare suits Pike, a noted homebody, down to the ground.
“I’m not really one to get restless and need to go and do things,” Pike said.
“Sitting at home and taking it easy is right up my alley.
“I haven’t got bored of it (isolation) yet, put it that way.
“I suppose the novelty hasn’t worn off just yet.
“We’ll see how it goes though, when you got a few months of it, you might change your mind.”
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Apprentice jockeys Michael Poy and Teodore Nugent can resume riding from Monday, pending negative COVID-19 tests, after being fined for breaches of coronavirus protocols.
Stewards concluded their probe late on Tuesday, fining Poy $1500 for not maintaining an appropriate logbook of travel and visiting a house Nugent shares with his partner, Claira Chermside, a stablehand for trainer Robert Hickmott.
Nugent and Chermside were fined $500 each.
Poy’s partner last week was identified as a close contact of a confirmed COVID-19 case.
The stewards’ investigation focused on the activities of Poy, Nugent and Chermside the days prior to the Racing Victoria being alerted to the situation with Poy’s partner.
The trio have all tested negative to COVID-19 but must submit another round of screening to return to work next week.
Racing Victoria chief executive Giles Thompson on Tuesday said the standing down of participants was necessary to protect the “industry as a whole”.
“It’s not easy when individual participants are directly impacted by this and have to sacrifice,” Thompson told RSN927.
“That’s not easy, but unfortunately that’s the way it is and individuals have to make sacrifices, or do things which are difficult… for the benefit of the industry.”
Meanwhile, leading jockey James Winks remains in good spirits after a recent health episode.
Four-time Group 1 winner Winks, 36, widely regarded by top Melbourne trainers as one of the state’s best horsemen, has not ridden since the July 19 meeting at Wodonga.
Winks, who often rides for trainers including Team Hawkes and Michael Moroney, will know more about his immediate riding future next week.
“I’m just having a bit of a break at the moment,” Winks said on Tuesday.
“Having a bit of a rest. Nothing too serious.”
Winks rode 29 winners last season from 214 Victorian rides.
