Jockey Daniel Moore is reuniting with Uncle Bryn at Flemington ahead of a bigger assignment in the Caulfield Cup.
Uncle Bryn contests the Turnbull Stakes (2000m) at Flemington on Saturday in a bid to emulate the deeds of Smokin’ Romans 12 months ago.
Smokin’ Romans won the Naturalism Stakes (2000m) at Caulfield enroute to the Turnbull Stakes, and it is the same path Uncle Bryn is following on Saturday.
At his last start with John Allen aboard, Uncle Bryn won the Naturalism Stakes earning him a ballot exemption into the Caulfield Cup (2400m) on October 21.
Penalised 1kg for that victory, Uncle Bryn has 52kg in the Caulfield Cup 2023.
Moor won the Sale Cup and finished second on the Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young-trained galloper in the Naturalism Stakes last year and is looking forward to reuniting with the galloper on Saturday.
“I haven’t been on him for a while,” Moor said.
“He had been a little bit in the wilderness with his form, but he was going well but performing average.
“His run in the Lawrence Stakes was poor, his run in the Heatherlie Stakes was very average but he bounced back well when up to 2000 metres in the Naturalism last time.”
Moor wants to see Uncle Bryn switch off during the race on Saturday especially with the Caulfield Cup only two weeks away.
“I’m hoping fourth up, with a few runs under the belt, he’ll do that,” Moor said.
“He’s taking on a different class of horse here and this is a run towards the Caulfield Cup for him.
“The main thing I want to see from him from a Caulfield Cup perspective is he settles well and is hitting the line with the same zest as he did last start and we’re on track.”
Moor said he was booked to ride the galloper in the Caulfield Cup.
“He’s got 52 kilos which is pretty comfortable for me,” Moor said.
“You can wait until the death for something in the Caulfield Cup that you might be riding pretty light, so I’m pretty happy to have something locked away.”