Cranbourne Cup: Our Playboy finds his sweet spot at the mile

Mick Price targeted the Cranbourne Cup for Our Playboy and two factors will make him hard to beat on Saturday.

Our Playboy is the favourite for the Cranbourne Cup. Picture: Getty Images

With Our Playboy set to get conditions to suit as he chases the $500,000 Cranbourne Cup on Saturday, trainer Mick Price says there is a simple reason why the gelding has struck such a rich vein of form.

Two of Our Playboy’s last three starts have produced sensational last-to-first wins, storming home in the Winx Guineas during the Queensland winter carnival and then coming from the tail at Flemington last Saturday.

“I will tell you what has reinvented that horse and it is (racing at) 1600(m),” Price said.

“I never tried him at 1600(m) until the Winx Guineas on the Sunshine Coast, that was his first try at 1600(m).

“Once he ran it out as he did, I thought well from now on that horse will be trained for 1600m races.

“He won a couple of Group 3s at 1200m and so with that in mind I had him fresh for the Brisbane carnival.

“But as he has matured he has probably lost his turn of foot and he has gone up in grade too.”

Backing up from last Saturday, Price and co-trainer Michael Kent Jr are sure Our Playboy will find the 1600m of the Listed Cranbourne Cup in his sweet spot.

The prospect of a wet Cranbourne track will be another ace up the sleeve of the four-year-old who would have raced in Sydney’s rich Golden Eagle had he got a start.

Our Playboy has no tactical speed but Price said he is at his best launching a run from the back on wet racing surfaces.

Our Playboy (left) winning at Flemington on Stakes Day last week. Picture: Getty Images

“I would have run him in the Golden Eagle, but he only got to as far as first emergency,” Price said.

“He would have been a top six chance in that race but I was hoping for a wet track.

“The two things in his favour on Saturday are 1600(m) and a wet track.

“It looks like it’s going to rain a lot and Cranbourne is a soft sort of track and he will be out the back.

“He falls out of the gates, he has got no early tactical speed.”

The Cranbourne Cup was always the primary target for Our Playboy, with the training team racing him at Flemington last Saturday to ensure he got a start at Cranbourne.

Price is convinced Our Playboy, the $4 Cranbourne Cup favourite, will give the race a mighty shake.

The wide barrier also suits, allowing Our Playboy and Zac Spain plenty of time to settle and launch a withering run.

“The barrier suits him, a lot of rain is predicted and now we just need them to roll along a bit in that race and it will give us a good chance,” Price said.

“For the sort of horse that’s in it, I think $500,000 is worth a chase.

“I was nearly going to wait just for the Cranbourne Cup but I thought with his rating I wasn’t sure whether he would get a run.

“Rightly or wrongly, we used last Saturday as a springboard.”

Originally published as Cranbourne Cup: Our Playboy finds his sweet spot at the mile