Today I’m riding at Moe. The rail is in the true position and the track is rated in the heavy range. This meeting was planned to be held at Cranbourne however due to the state of a section of the track being unsuitable for racing it has been transferred to Moe.
Race 1 is the Frankston Sand Soil & Mini Mix 3YO Maiden Plate over 1200 metres. My ride here is SANDY PRINCE who is trained by Ben & JD Hayes. This gelding by Pride of Dubai has had three starts for three second placings. He ran second on debut as a two-year-old to a horse called SAIF, who went on to be Group 2 placed and a Group 3 winner at his next two starts, so that is a strong form reference around this horse. I had my first ride on SANDY PRINCE when he resumed this preparation at Geelong and finished second to THE GARDEN. That form has been franked with THE GARDEN backing up eight days later at Caulfield to finish third in a 3YO C&G handicap and the horse that finished third at Geelong winning his maiden convincingly at Echuca yesterday. He races here second-up and in a race that has been depleted by scratchings he is the horse they all have to beat.
Race 6 is the Mercedes-Benz Mornington BM70 Handicap over 1200 metres. My ride here is CAFFREY (IRE) who is trained by Peter G Moody. This six-year-old gelding by Kendargent is raced by Peter and his family. He’s had 11 starts for a record of three wins and three second placings and has been a very consistent galloper throughout his career. I picked up the ride on him last start when he resumed at Sandown over 1400 metres in BM70 grade. He did a lot of things wrong in running and was only beaten by 0.2 of a length, so it was a mighty effort from him for a horse that over raced badly and then got interfered with at the top of the straight to only just miss getting the win. He comes into this with a nice gap between runs, is dropping back in distance which will help his racing mannerisms and I now have a better understanding of him. If he runs up to his best form and does things kindly for me this is an achievable race for him.