Rob Blacker would have preferred Harry Coffey stuck with Skyphios for Saturday’s 3YO Cranbourne Classic, but the Mornington trainer doesn’t have any complaints with his replacement rider.
Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Mark Zahra will have his first ride on the son of Fiorente in the $175,000 event.
Blacker turned to the owners once he learned that Coffey was going to partner the Patrick Payne-trained Dunkel in the 2025-metre event and they were happy to have Gold Trip’s rider sitting on the shelf.
“I think they (jockey managers) all must have rung around and found out Harry was riding the other horse, so we got a few calls and I just said to the owners, ‘all these blokes have rung, tell me who you want’,” Blacker said.
“They said, ‘well, Zahra’s in-form’, and I said, ‘yes he is’,” he added with a laugh.
Zahra and Skyphios will start from barrier two in the nine-horse field for which Dunkel (barrier three), whom Coffey partnered to an impressive debut win at The Valley, is an odds-on favourite.
Skyphios heads into the 3YO Cranbourne Classic off the Group 1 Victoria Derby (2500m), in which he finished 12th, a run that Blacker said suggested that he might not be a stayer.
His only other two runs since winning the 1800m Byerly Handicap as a two-year-old in July were a first-up 14th in the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m) and a 5-1/2-length seventh off a wide run in the Group 2 Moonee Valley Vase (2040m) on Cox Plate Day.
“The last 250 he battled a bit (in the Derby). He’s faded there, so maybe 2200 (metres) cuts him out.
“His two best runs in his life have been the win at Flemington over 1800 and the run in the Vase over 2000.
“I would say he’s probably much better off around this distance range.”