Price could be right about Hezashocka on wet track in Caloundra Cup at Sunshine Coast on Saturday

Astute Victorian trainer Mick Price thinks the wet track and 2400m are right in the sweet spot for well-fancied Caloundra Cup contender Hezashocka.

Savvy punters who snapped up the $8 Caloundra Cup odds being offered earlier this week about noted wet tracker Hezashocka would be licking their lips.

And astute trainer Mick Price feels they have every right to be.

With the Sunshine Coast track well into the heavy range ahead of Saturday’s last meeting of the Queensland winter carnival, Mick Price and Michael Kent Jr-trained Hezashocka now shares $3.90 favouritism for the $300,000 Listed Caloundra Cup (2400m).

Last time he was seen, Hezashocka never figured in the $1.2m Q22 when he finished more than 8.5 lengths behind Fawkner Park on a good track at Eagle Farm.

But a start earlier when he had his preferred rain-affected surface, Hezashocka was the subject of a betting plunge from $3 into $2.25 and won the Group 3 Premier’s Cup with ease over the 2400m trip.

.@jamieleekah07 is a jockey in form at the moment! 🔥

Hear from her after riding Hezashocka to victory in the Premier's Cup. pic.twitter.com/YtHcGtxOdP

— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) June 1, 2024

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“His sweet spot is 2400(m) and a rain-affected track, so I think it is fair that he is favourite on Saturday,” Price said.

“At this point, we have found that his 2400m form is good and his soft track form is good.

“That’s when he comes alive.”

The OTI-owned stayer will be spelled after Saturday’s Caloundra Cup, in which he will carry equal topweight of 60kg and be ridden by Vlad Duric.

Price has hopes Hezashocka can knock off some good races during the Melbourne spring carnival but he is unlikely to be set for anything beyond 2400m.

He is currently a $51 chance in Caulfield Cup betting.

“I did try him once in the Andrew Ramsden (2800m) and he got to the 2400m point and stopped on me,” Price said.

“I’m not sure that he has it in his DNA to be a lengthy staying type of horse.

“But Saturday is a great opportunity for him and he will race very well.”

Mick Price rounds off his winter carnival assault at the Sunshine Coast on Saturday. Picture: Getty Images

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Price and Kent Jr will also have enigmatic sprinter What You Need racing in Saturday’s Glasshouse Handicap and Price said everything would need to go right for him to be winning as a $14 chance.

The training team looks set for a bumper spring carnival with an arsenal including dominant Queensland Derby champion Warmonger and two-year-old colt First Settler who won his first start in brilliant fashion at Caulfield last Saturday.

Originally published as Price could be right about Hezashocka on wet track in Caloundra Cup at Sunshine Coast on Saturday