Trainer Gordon Richards is confident sprinter Gytrash can acquit himself well when he runs first-up in The Goodwood at Morphettville.
Gytrash is returning from an operation to remove a bone chip following victory at Rosehill last October, but Richards in noting how well the son of Lope De Vega returned thought the gelding was worth a shot at Saturday’s Group 1 1200m contest.
The one niggling thought for Richards though is the trip, preferring a shorter 1000m or 1100m.
Gytrash will round off his preparation with a jump-out on the middle grass at Morphettville on Tuesday
“I only intended to give him a small preparation rather than go through the motions of 12 months without a run,” Richards said.
“But he’s moving along beautifully, so we’ve decided to run in the Goodwood, rather than a trial, put him in a race and try and win some prize money.
“While not properly screwed down for it, he’s pretty right and he goes well fresh, so he’ll run and then go for a break and head towards The Everest again.
“He’s a very clean-winded horse and he came out of the spelling paddock like he could have raced the next week, he looked that good.
“Hopefully the track is not too heavy. Soft will be good.”
Tuesday’s jump-out will be Gytrash’s second following one from two weeks ago while Richards took the sprinter to Murray Bridge last week for a raceday gallop over 800m in which he was joined by Dollar For Dollar and Free Of Debt.
Richards said the program was pretty close to the one he followed before Gytrash was successful first-up in the Group 1 Lightning Stakes, albeit over 1000m, at Flemington last year.
Jason Collett, who rode Gytrash to victories in Sydney last spring and when third in The Everest, will travel to Adelaide to partner the sprinter on Saturday.
Article from JustHorseRacing.com.au