Trots Centre: Sax out of back row shadows and gets his chance

As Saturday night’s TAB Blacks A Fake Free For All field cradles the final turn and sets for home the question in trainer Matt Craven’s mind will be how much does his runner still want it?

The answer may well not only provide the winner of the hotly contested eighth race at Tabcorp Park Melton, but make clear the pathway of Shadow Sax’s racing twilight.

A winner of more than half-a-million in stakes and 23 of his 47 starts, the eight-year-old has his sixth start for the stable tomorrow night and his first off the front row, enabling driver Sofia Arvidsson to finally tap into his gate spend and front-running prowess.

“It will be nice to see him in front and see if he’s still got that killer instinct to hold off whatever challenges may come,” Craven said.

“His times suggests he’s going well. We know he’s still got the gate speed, it will just be at the top of the lane if he is still going to be able to dig in and hold them off.”

Long a stalwart for Emma Stewart’s stable, including winning two Group 1s, injury has niggled at Shadow Sax and limited him to nine starts since the end of 2018.

Pam and Russell Hockham placed him with Craven in November, with an initial campaign in March and April returning only modest results, but he has shown promising shines in his second campaign at the Ecklin South stable, running on well to finish eighth and then third on consecutive Saturday nights at Melton.

“I tried a few different things, took him back to basics and did a lot of work bare foot and it seemed to have helped him. He seems happy,” Craven said.

“His two runs the last couple of weeks were very positive. We wanted him to show whether his head was still in the game. We certainly wanted him to be hitting the line.”

Which he did, finishing in a 27.05s final quarter in the TAB Italian Cup and then 27.54s in last Saturday’s TAB Long May We Play Pace, both the quickest closing quarters of any horse in the headline pacing races.

With Saturday night’s preferential draw decided on prizemoney won in a horse’s last four starts opportunity has finally knocked for Shadow Sax, drawing gate two with his 115 National Rating no longer a factor.

It’s his first front row draw since November 2018, when he led and won the Garrards Popular Alm Free For All by 5.6 metres from San Carlo, who was on a three-race winning streak including claiming Yarra Valley and Cranbourne cups.

“We’ve found a race in which he could be back in the draw,” Craven said. “There are no easy races for him to get his confidence back, but he seems to have come through well.

“It will be a crazy race. All racing at Melton always has plenty of depth. This is no different, it’s not going to be easy.

“I’m just hoping he goes out and wants to race. Both Max Delight and Malcolms Rhythm were terrific runs when they last raced and both are quality horses.

“Code Bailey seems like he’s on his way back to good form. I don’t think you can discount any runner. Certainly Max Delight deserves to be on top. Where does Malcolms Rhythm get to in the run?

“If Shadow Sax leads and runs even time he’s going to prove hard to run down.”

WATCH: Burning Questions – Drivers and form analysts break down Saturday night

The Hockhams have also entrusted Craven with another of their outstanding pacers in Demon Delight, who trialled last week at Terang and will do so again “in the near future” before a racing a return is mapped out.

“He’s progressing nicely. He does everything that’s asked of him,” Craven said. “We haven’t picked out anything in particular for him yet, I want to get him back on his feet and hopefully he’ll progress.

“He’s a quality horse, laid back and a lovely horse to have around the stables.”

Craven takes four to Melton on Saturday night, with Shadow Sax to be joined by Helgart, stable star Pink Galahs and Queen Of Crime.

The latter two will contest the IRT Australia Matriarch Trot, with the $30,000 trotting mares Group 2 drawing an outstanding field.

None have enjoyed as much success as Pink Galahs, but Craven cautioned her gate 10 draw would make life difficult and that this was far from her grand final.

“Her main aim is Queensland, this is a stepping stone towards that,” he said.

“The mares is a quality race. She’ll probably find it hard from the back row draw, but the main thing is she’s racing in quality races and progressing to her two main assignments in Queensland.”

He was “pretty pleased” with Queen Of Crime’s last start third placing and said she would race on the speed from gate two and put in a forward showing.

The speed map is even more clearer for Helgart, who, providing emergency Elteearr doesn’t get a start, will begin on the back of likely leader Soho Broadway and get an arm chair ride to the sprint lane in race two.

“She’s done a terrific job and the fast, even tempo of metropolitan racing is to her liking,” Craven said. “If she races well she’s probably on track to travel to Queensland as well.”