“IF I knew he was going to run straight, and that it would be a dry track, I’d be extremely confident. Unfortunately there are a few other factors that make it a bit of a concern.”

Mudgee trainer Cameron Crockett says he has a real talent on his hands in the shape of five-year-old gelding Iron Blue, but the grey’s faults have balanced out his positives so far in his career.

He will line up in today’s $25,000 Soldi­er’s Saddle at Tyers Park looking to pick up the third win of his career in just his 10th start, having also placed three times.

Crockett’s father Max won the race in 2006 with Life’s Too Short.

A series of injuries, illnesses and behavioural issues have stunted Iron Blue’s progression however, and the lack of consistent racing is what concerns his trainer.

“He probably should have won more of his nine starts, but if he wins this weekend I’ll be glad that he didn’t because those wins would have made him ineligible for the Saddle,” he said.

“He threw the race away in Tamworth last start where he finished fourth, he should have at least been in the photo, but he laid in towards the rail, which is a problem he’s had his whole career.

“I’ve changed some of his gear and put a ‘dee bit’ on him for this race to hopefully take care of that problem. I don’t like putting too much gear on them because I want them to be happy, but I need to find a way to fix the problem.”

As Crockett explained, the son of Aussie Rules out of Royal Amarco was “hopeless” initially before gradually finding his feet on the back of a series of trials.

Wins in Mudgee last September and Dubbo two races back have confirmed that he is on the way up, and it is only a lack of regular track time that Crockett believes has prevented him from progressing. 

“My sister manages a syndicate that included a lot of mates from around here, guys I played footy with and that sort of thing. They were involved in a filly we picked up from Dubbo who had a lot of problems, she’d flip herself backwards when she was cantering,” the trainer said.

“I had bought Iron Blue myself for $3,000 and gave him 12 months in the paddock, I brought him back in [to work] and told them that he had some potential, so we switched the syndicate over to him.

“I went to the Melbourne Cup and while I was there he trialled and just got annihilated, he had a few more gallops that were pretty poor too and I thought ‘I’m never getting anyone into a syndicate again’.

“He started to trial a bit better though, which was a good sign, but was ducking in towards the rail. He won at Mudgee after a couple of starts but then hurt his leg so he spelled, and then he ran a third and a second but got sick.”

The issue with Iron Blue’s behaviour in the straight isn’t easily solved, and it is hard to have a contingency plan for such an issue, though Crockett says he and jockey Anthony Cavallo have an idea of what they need to do today.

“It is no good taking him to the rail because then if a horse in front of him slows, he can’t go back wider to get around them. Ideally I’d like him to sit and sprint out wide,” he said.

“I’d like him to be maybe four or five spaces wide of the rest when the time comes, he seems to hang in more when he is cramped up.

“There are some good horses in this race, Hollywood Nell and All Sixes have good form, though I also like the form of Eight Skirts, it has run some nice races in town in the past and it is back in grade.

“Basically I would be very confident if I knew exactly whether my horse would run straight on a dry track, but all I can do is hope.”