A FIRST up test at Menangle in a Group 3 race – Anthony Frisby knows it is less than ideal, but with an Inter Dominion drive beckoning that exactly is what Our Uncle Sam will do on Saturday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Trained at Perthville by his father Chris Frisby, Our Uncle Sam is one of a host of horses nominated for this year’s edition of the rich and prestigious Inter Dominion series.
After the third round of rankings Our Uncle Sam was rated 59th and with the final rankings to be released on November 21, the Frisbys are keen to improve his standing.
He climbed from 71 to his current spot in after the second round, but to continue that trend means beating quality fields such as that which has been assembled for Saturday’s Group 3 Kevin Robinson Free For All (2,300 metres).
Doing it first up after a three-month spell adds to the degree of difficulty.
READ MORE: Our Uncle Sam is impressing in Queensland
“It’s going to be a hard one for him, it's even going to be hard going down there first-up, that’s got us a bit worried,” Anthony Frisby admitted.
“But his trials were good and he had a pretty good preparation up to that. First up at Menangle is always pretty hard, we don’t like sending them down there first-up, but we’re sort of running out of time and there are no races at home for him, it’s just one of things I guess.”
A five-year-old son of Sportswriter, Our Uncle Sam will resume after a handy 2017-18 season where he boasted a 50 percent winning strike rate.
His successes included four in a row to start the season, back-to-back wins at Albion Park and taking out the Listed Patrons Purse at Redcliffe.
While Anthony Frisby knows there are much better horses than Our Uncle Sam who will gain a start, he still thinks his gelding is worthy of a spot. He knows that qualification would bring with it the potential for some nice prize money too.
Keep up to date with the latest sports news by clicking here
“He’s probably good enough to be there, I don’t know if he’s good enough to win it. But these opportunities don’t come around all the time and we thought it’s only in Melbourne, so it’s not like it’s going to cost you $40,000 to go to Perth, you don’t have to get on a plane to go somewhere,” he said.
“If he picks a few cheques up along the way, they are good cheques, so that’s what we are thinking.
“It's big money to go in the heat, so we just want to try and put him in there and mature him into that sort of racing and see if he is good enough.
“I've never driven it myself, so it would be good to do. The best thing is if we get into it there’s no pressure, it’s not like he’ll be third favourite or anything like that. You can sort of go in there and you don’t have to put pressure on yourself.”
In the Kevin Robinson Free For All, Our Uncle Sam has drawn barrier six. While he has won three times over the distance, and took out his 1,730m trial on Monday by 22.4m after a 27.1 seconds final split, it will be a test.
His rivals include Amanda Turnbull’s Eye See Diamonds.
“There’s a lot of horses there that are trying to get into it, they’re trying to improve their ranking as well just like we are going to do,” Frisby said.
The Kevin Robinson Free For All is set for 9.30pm.