Trainer Tom Conlan aiming Atlantic Spirit at AR Creswick Stakes final instead of Sandown Saturday

Young Ballarat trainer Tom Conlan is confident he has a stakes filly after an unlucky Group 3 run in Adelaide so has decided to stay on the hunt for black type rather than compete at Sandown on Saturday.

Atlantic Spirit will tackle the AR Creswick Sprint Series after a luckless fourth in a Group 3 race in Adelaide. Picture: Racing Photos via Getty Images.

Ballarat trainer Tom Conlan is prepared to wait a little longer to secure a stakes win with stable star Atlantic Spirit.

Atlantic Spirit is the best of Conlan’s small team but the young trainer is happy to combine training with his job as a barrier attendant.

“We’ve only got six in work, me and my partner Nicki do it so we’ve got a small team,” Conlan said.

“I didn’t want to get too big because of staffing reasons so six to eight is about our perfect number and we can do it properly.

“We’re just poking along because I work on the barriers as well.”

Atlantic Spirit won three straight in Victoria before a luckless fourth at her last run in the Group 3 Proud Miss Stakes in Adelaide on May 11.

Atlantic Spirit was held up for most of the straight before driving late to finish a half-length from the winner.

“I really think she should have just about won in Adelaide,” Conlan said.

“She was just getting held up at the wrong time.

Trainer Tom Conlan has decided to bypass Saturday’s Sandown meeting with Atlantic Spirit. Picture: Getty Images.

“The plan was to go back, ride for luck and go through them and don’t go right around them.”

That effort showed Conlan that Atlantic Spirit was up to stakes class, prompting him to decide against running the filly in either race for which she was nominated at Sandown on Saturday.

Conlan has decided to chase a sport in the Listed Creswick Sprint Series Final at Flemington in July.

“She’s the headline act and she’s bloody flying,” Conlan said.

“She’s going to the Creswick on the eighth (of June) so we’ll give Sandown a miss.

“My plan is to race in the Creswick Series and get to the final because the final is a stakes race and if she handles the (Flemington) straight, hopefully we can knock it off that way.”

Originally published as Trainer Tom Conlan aiming Atlantic Spirit at AR Creswick Stakes final instead of Sandown Saturday