THE heat of summer has made it difficult for Chris Frisby’s stable star Our Uncle Sam to enjoy an ideal Ballarat Cup (2,710 metres) preparation but that hasn’t burned the enthusiasm of the Bathurst trainer or his son Anthony for the Group 1 event.
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The Inter Dominion runner-up has been in limited work leading up to Saturday’s race, due to the extreme heat around the region, but hasn’t shown any signs of being hampered by the weather.
Luckily for the runners a cooler change is expected for the feature event.
“Dad’s been very happy with him down there. It’s been hard though. On Tuesday it was 44 degrees down there and he told me that he hadn’t been doing too much with him,” Anthony Frisby said.
“He worked him all day on Wednesday and he was really happy with him. The heat hasn’t worried him as yet. As long as we keep on top of that we’re looking good.”
Frisby has been satisfied with Our Uncle Sam’s back-to-back Group 2 third placings since the Inter Dominion.
Our Uncle Sam was less than 2.5 metres away from victory in both his Shirley Turnbull Memorial and Shepparton Gold Cup runs.
A similar level of racing will get him close in this Saturday’s $110,000 feature race but he’ll have another quality field to contend with.
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New Zealand Cup champion Thefixer will be making his Australian debut from gate three for Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen, while Frisby starts directly behind on the back row.
Thefixer’s stablemate and Len Smith Mile champion Cruz Bromac also features in the race.
“He’s going good and his last two runs were phenomenal. That draw is just the way the cookie crumbles,” Frisby said.
“In the Shirley Turnbull he’s only been beaten by a metre and he had to do a lot of work in that one, then the other night he went really well again so we couldn’t be happier.
“It’s a pretty open race. We’ll need a lot of luck, that’s for sure. It’s one of those races where you’d expect them to go hard up the front but we’ll wait and see how it pans out.”
Along with the drive on Our Uncle Sam Frisby will also be guiding stablemates Uncle Jord and Our Uncle Jim in Victoria Derby heats, run over 2,200m.
Amanda Turnbull has the drive on a horse many people will be watching with great interest – Emma Stewart’s Breeders Crown champion Hurricane Harley – who is making his first start since that victory in August.
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Alexander Grant
Part of the Western Advocate's sports desk in Bathurst.
Part of the Western Advocate's sports desk in Bathurst.
