Owner Danny Zavitsanos is staying patient and hopeful the two-year-old trotting star who delivered his first Group 1, Enhance Your Calm, can get his groove back in Victoria.
A winner of eight of his first nine starts and more than $200,000 in prizemoney, the former Mark Purdon-trained four-year-old’s saluted only once in his last 12 outings, a dry spell Zavitsanos is hopeful will break when he steps out in the Beckley Park Committee Of Management Trot at Geelong tonight.
“I still have a big opinion of that horse, but he has to put it on the track now,” Zavitsanos said. “He won me my first Group 1. I’d had 400 wins, but never a Group 1 until he won the Jewels. He’s a nice horse, I have a lot of time for him, I just hope he can recapture his form.”
Enhance Your Calm has his second start for new trainer Dean Braun tonight, who he joined last month.
“He could have been anything. He was the best as a two-year-old and three-year-old and then he started having issues,” Zavitsanos said.
“Mark tipped him out as a late three-year-old, he came back at four and Mark thought he’d have a really good campaign.
“Mark tried a few things, but he really baffled him, and after three or four goes Mark thought he might be better off over here.”
And with that he was shipped across the Tasman and has now become Braun’s project.
“Dean thinks it’s more in his head. It’s a work in progress,” Zavitsanos said.
It's a reclamation project that began with a second placing at Maryborough on November 1, when reinsman Chris Alford allowed Enhance Your Calm to settle in the one-one before looming late, ultimately finished second behind Benji Hall.
“I thought at Maryborough he was every chance. He was well driven, Chris thought he was going to surge past the leader, who’s a nice horse, but the class Enhance Your Calm is you would think he’d go past him,” Zavitsanos said.
“(Tonight) will tell us a bit. We’ll see how he goes. You’d like to think that he would win.”
Like at Maryborough, it’s a Chris Svanosio-trained horse who looms as the most likely stumbling block, with Peregrine Phoenix drawn four, to the outside of Enhance Your Calm (gate two).
Zavitsanos said if all goes well Enhance Your Calm would be directed towards the Hylands Breeders Crown Championship at Tabcorp Park Melton on November 20.
The trotter is not the only high-class horse who Zavitsanos is keeping a close eye on at present.
His New Zealand Trotting Cup winner Cruz Bromac continues his Victorian campaign Saturday night in an outstanding TAB Preux Chevalier Free For All, in which Pryde’s EasiFeed Victoria Cup winner Lochinvar Art looms large from the second line.
It will be Cruz Bromac’s fourth start for trainer Amanda Grieve and Zavitsanos was hopeful of improvement.
“He’s been good without being outstanding,” he said. “He’s had a couple of niggling issues that have set him back, but I think on Saturday night he will hopefully be back to his best.”
The race could well decide how ambitious the camp is with the million-dollar pacer.
“It’s one race at a time. If he shows he’s back to his best he might be a chance for the Blacks A Fake in Queensland, but he will need to show us he’s back there,” he said.
“On the draw I’d imagine he would roll forward (on Saturday night) and we will see how he goes, but I haven’t spoken to Amanda yet.”
TALKING TROTS ON SENTRACK:
Listen weekdays to Talking Trots on Track from 11am to 1pm on SENTrack, which airs on 1593AM in Melbourne, 1539AM in Sydney, 657AM in Perth, 801AM in Gosford, 96.9FM in Ingham, 99.1FM in Atherton and 1575AM in Wollongong.
Click here to listen live and for links to download the SEN app.