Jack hopeful Wangaratta Cup kick starts the making of Moreton Bay

Moreton Bay’s pathway from turning potential into more prizemoney may take significant steps this Sunday when David Jack’s raw but talented six-year-old searches for more silverware.

The Café The Pre Vue Wangaratta Trotters Cup is just Moreton Bay’s 18^th start, less than half that of any of his rivals, but Jack is hopeful the race is the first of many that will soon erase that deficit.

“He’s got some natural talent, but hasn’t had a lot of racing, so he is a very inexperienced horse,” Jack said.

“At Wangaratta there are horses who have been going around a long time and are much more experienced than him. If we can keep him right and he can get more racing it will really help him.”

A winner of the Group 1 Vicbred Platinum Home Grown Classic and a second placegetter behind Always Ready in the Vicbred Super Series, the world seemed at Moreton Bay’s feet as a rising two-year-old.

However, he’s seen very little of the racetrack since mid-way through his three-year-old season, having had only six starts since March 2019 for a career record of eight wins and seven placings from 17 outings.

“He had tendon issues as a young horse,” Jack said. “It looked like it could be major, so we gave him a long spell and hoped that he would come back. He also has a few issues unrelated to that, so he hasn’t been an easy horse to train.”

He most recently returned from a relatively short spell on Great Southern Star night in the TAB Long May We Play Trot, where he was installed favourite and led from gate two but failed to settle and eventually faded to sixth.

“He had a pretty nice trial and I was very confident he could run good, but he was fierce and overraced and you can’t do that in that class,” Jack said. “If you don’t settle you are a sitting duck.”

That was February 4 and a stewards enforced lay-off followed, with Sunday’s Wangaratta Cup marking his reboot.

Being the lowest rated horse in the race will see him start from inside the front row and well positioned to again lead, but Jack has few fears of a repeat of his Melton foibles.

“It hasn’t been a theme of his racing, so was probably a lack of match practice,” he said.

“If he leads at Wangaratta, good, if he gets a sit, that’s good too. If you lead at Wang it’s a big advantage. You’ve just got to read the race and if he gets away good that’s where he’ll be. If they go a bit quicker I’ll be happy to take a sit.

“I’m confident that he can sit off them and come with a run. He’s pretty good on the back of another horse, but he hasn’t had many opportunities.”

As much as Sunday is about capturing a Cup – “they’re good trophies. I’m always happy to have a horse who can win a cup” – it’s also about setting the foundation for a career, including potentially a tilt at next season’s rich Aurora Australis series.

“I’d like to think that with 12 months of racing we’d have a racehorse who can be competitive at that level.”

Moreton Bay has been priced a $2.30 favourite for the Cup, with backmarker Robbie Royale, who’ll start off 30 metres, looming as his lead rival for trainer Brent Lilley and reinsman Josh Duggan.

The card also features the Yarrawonga Refrigeration & Airconditioning Wangaratta Pacing Cup, an even eight-horse field with New South Wales raider Nerano for Ellen Bartley and Blake Jones among those considered most likely to capture the prize.