KEMBLA Grange trainer Kerry Parker won’t mind in the least if Brisbane’s spate of summer rain continues.
He has sent So Sleek north to run at Eagle Farm on Saturday in the Benchmark 78 Handicap (2218m), and Damien Thornton rides.
Following 137.5mm of rain the past seven days up until Thursday morning, Eagle Farm was rated a “Heavy 8”, and Parker hopes it stays that way.
“So Sleek is at his best on heavy ground; that’s the reason for sending him to Queensland,” he said on Thursday.
“My son Aaron is looking after him.”
Aaron Parker spent eight weeks in Queensland based at the Sunshine Coast in the winter of 2018, looking after Dark Dream, who provided his father with his maiden Group 1 triumph in the Queensland Derby (2200m), run at Doomben that year as Eagle Farm was closed.
So Sleek, a five-year-old by So You Think, joined Parker’s team from Ciaron Maher in Victoria earlier this year, and won a Class 1 Plate (2340m) as an odds-on favorite at Newcastle in May at his third start for his new trainer.
Significantly that was on a heavy track – and so was his first win in a Maiden Plate (1600m) at Bendigo in June last year.
Whilst the Newcastle victory has been So Sleek’s sole success to date for Parker, he has been a consistent performer for the stable, also placing on five occasions (two of them in town).
The gelding has gone to Queensland on the back of a close second to Casual Connection in a Midway Benchmark 72 Handicap (2000m) at Rosehill Gardens on November 30, run on a ‘Soft 7” track.
So Sleek will be the popular trainer’s first Brisbane starter since Callistemon contested the Group 1` Queensland Oaks (2200m) at Eagle Farm in June.
The now four-year-old mare will have her fourth start this campaign in the Midway Benchmark 72 Handicap (1600m) at Royal Randwick on Saturday, and Jay Ford has the mount.
“Ideally I would have preferred her to go to 1800m after three runs this time in,” Parker said.
“But getting back from a Benchmark 78 Handicap to a Midway over 1600m at Randwick is as close as we’re going to get for now.
“Her three runs back over shorter distances have all been pleasing.
“Callistemon is in good order, and was beaten less than three lengths last time when seventh in a Benchmark 78 (1400m) against her own sex at Rosehill on November 30.”
Stablemates Justela and Mah Ali, who gave Parker the quinella in a Midway Benchmark 72 Handicap (1500m) at Rosehill on December 7, are both likely to start next at Randwick on Saturday week.
But this time they won’t clash.
Whilst Mah Ali will remain in Midway company seeking a city breakthrough, Justela will go up in grade to a Benchmark 78 Handicap aiming to clinch a hat-trick after also scoring at her home track’s The Gong metropolitan meeting on November 23.
Story John Curtis, December 19, 2024
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