Fell Swoop prepares for crack at the four major Queensland sprints

MATT Dale is trying to replicate the serene surrounds of his Canberra base as gun sprinter Fell Swoop prepares for his first stay away from home to make tilts on the four major Queensland sprints.

Job ID PD544514. Canberra horse trainer, Matthew Dale with his racehorse Fell Swoop. Wednesday 14th October 2015. Picture: Gary Ramage

MATT Dale is trying to replicate the serene surrounds of his Canberra base as gun sprinter Fell Swoop prepares for his first stay away from home to make tilts on the four major Queensland sprints.

Fell Swoop makes his Brisbane debut in Saturday’s Group 2 Victory Stakes, where he will be fancied to frank his high-ranking ­status in each of the Group 1 markets this winter.

While Fell Swoop had made successful hit-and-run visits to Melbourne, Dale said this would be the four-year-old’s first real away trip and the trainer had booked him into Matt Dunn’s Murwillumbah stables.

“When he’s gone to Melbourne it’s been down and back, so with him staying up there, we kind of wanted to replicate the environment he has here in Canberra,” Dale said.

“There’s not as much hustle and bustle at Murwillumbah as there is in the city.

“This will be pretty new to me too. I’ve gone to Melbourne a lot and obviously we’re in Sydney most weeks, but to travel and stay will be different. It’s the first time I’ve had the right horse to do it.”

Canberra horse trainer Matthew Dale with his racehorse Fell Swoop. Picture: Gary Ramage

Dale said apart from the good prizemoney, Queensland was appealing because it would “season up” the sprinter, who he would be doing a lot more travelling with in the coming years.

Fell Swoop, who leaves Canberra on Wednesday night, will arrive with impeccable credentials, having placed in the Oakleigh Plate and T.J. Smith at Group 1 level this autumn. Sportsbet have him marked at $4 second favourite behind ­English ($3.20) for the BTC Cup on May 14.

Damien Oliver has confirmed he will travel north to take the ride at Doomben this Saturday.

“I always had faith he could go to this level,” Dale said.

“He was doing a bit wrong and still winning those races. That’s the sign of a real competitor.

“Because of that I was able to throw him straight into the Oakleigh Plate first-up and he measured up. Then in the T.J. it was pretty exciting to run second to a horse (Chautauqua) rated the best sprinter in the world.”

Dale said Fell Swoop showed no signs of taking any ill effects from his campaign.

“We are mindful we have asked a fair bit of him already. He was ready to rock and roll for the Oakleigh Plate in February,” he said.

“If he didn’t start in the Victory, he would have had to trial in between races anyway, so why not run?”

â–  A REVIEW will be conducted after yesterday’s meeting at Kilcoy was abandoned due to the state of the track. Racing Queensland said the Kilcoy Racing Club had installed cabling underneath the track near the winning post six weeks ago but had not informed RQ of the installation.

Originally published as Fell Swoop prepares for crack at the four major Queensland sprints