Events of last winter leave trainer Danny O’Brien confident his charge Treporti can handle a stiff class rise at Flemington on Saturday.
Treporti won a Benchmark 70 race at Bendigo on April 1 but circumstances compelled O’Brien to test the four-year-old at Benchmark 90 level in Saturday’s 3AW Sprint (1100m).
Treporti was scheduled to contest an easier assignment at Flemington on Anzac Day but that meeting was abandoned after the tragic passing of popular jockey Dean Holland.
However, O’Brien said a 5.5kg weight drop to 54kg and Treporti’s form in tough races down the Flemington straight would serve him well in Saturday’s $150,000 race.
“He’s fresh and well,” O’Brien said.
“He’s coming off a last-start win and the straight will suit him.
“He’s won down the straight before so we’re happy with him.
“He’s on the limit weight so he’ll get the weight relief and he’s run well in some good fields.”
Treporti has won once and finished less than three lengths from the winner in his last four starts down the straight.
Trainer Danny O’Brien will test smart sprinter Treporti in Benchmark 90 grade at Flemington on Saturday. Picture: Racing Photos via Getty Images.
The son of glamour sire I Am Invincible ran second to the subsequent stakes winner Star Patrol at the corresponding meeting last year before running creditably behind the recently retired Group 2 winner Passive Aggressive last June.
Jye McNeil will ride Treporti, who has firmed from $8 to $6 in TAB’s early betting on the event.
The O’Brien-trained Kings Crossing has also had a little support in early betting on the National Jockeys’ Trust Trophy (2000m).
Kings Crossing’s quote has trimmed from $11 to $10 despite the three-year-old finishing a long way from the winner when second last in Adelaide on May 6.
O’Brien hoped the poor effort was the result of wet track conditions.
“He’s coming off a very poor run in Adelaide, albeit on a wet track and I’m not sure he was happy in it,” O’Brien said.
“He needs to bounce back hard for us to think about anything too ambitious with him.
“We couldn’t find anything wrong with him but hopefully, on a good surface at Flemington, he can turn it around.”
Jockey Linda Meech has the task of finding the right way home for Kings Crossing from the outside barrier.