Greg Sugars believes Better Eclipse only has to repeat his gallant second behind Ladies In Red in last week’s The Rising Sun to feature prominently in the finish of the Group 1 Sunshine Sprint at Albion Park this Saturday night.
Sugars was delighted with the effort of the Chariots Of Fire winner, who sat three wide without cover from the 1600m mark before slotting across into the death seat with 800m to travel.
“I was very happy with him,” Sugars said.
“If you take Ladies In Red out of the race, he was very impressive to beat the rest home after working mid race and he must be one of the horses to beat this week.”
Better Eclipse ($3.80 fav) has drawn barrier four over the 1660m sprint trip and Sugars will be hoping to take up a forward position early in the race.
“He gets out alright and he can do his bit out of the gate on his own without using him up too much,” he said.
Sugars is wary of the presence of the Jason Grimson-trained I Cast No Shadow from the pole after that pacer’s stunning trial win in a 1:49.1min mile rate a fortnight ago.
“He broke the track record in the trial and if he brings that to the races, he will be hard to roll,” he said.
Better Eclipse’s stablemate Triple Eight, who is backing up from an authoritative last-to-first win in last week’s Mr Feelgood, will be partnered by Adam Sanderson.
“We haven’t sat down and discussed tactics yet, but a lot of it will depend on how hard they go in the first 200 metres,” he said.
“Triple Eight goes best when he is driven conservatively as he showed last week, but over the sprint trip you can’t afford to get too far back early.”
Victorian trained horses look set to continue their dominance at the Queensland winter carnival after winning all four pacing feature races last Saturday night.
The Emma Stewart-trained mare Maajida ($1.25 fav) appears to have a mortgage on The Golden Girl from barrier two, while stablemate Beyond Delight ($1.60 fav) will be looking to atone in the 4YO Championship after carrying a flat tyre in The Rising Sun.
The Nathan Purdon-trained filly Amore Vita should launch a successful night for the Victorians in the South East Oaks, for which she is a $1.75 favorite despite a second row draw.
