Heavenly Dancer set to make amends
Gray's 4YO better than his last start suggests
One bad run does not make him a bad horse. I am talking about Heavenly Dancer.
Forget his last-start failure. The Stephen Gray-trained four-year-old New Zealand-bred is a nice horse with a future.
He should bounce back with a vengeance in the $50,000 Class 4 Div 2 event over the Polytrack 1,200m in Race 3 tomorrow.
The horse is fit, back on his preferred Poly surface and a jockey who knows him best - champion jockey Vlad Duric.
Heavenly Dancer seemed to be heading for better things with his straight wins and three seconds before that blot to his name.
In that similar Class 4 Div 2 race over 1,200m on turf, he was ridden for the first time by an apprentice jockey, Cheah Wei Wen, who settled the horse further back than anticipated after being slow to begin.
His mount improved gradually and found the line well in the straight. He finished seventh to the promising Pattaya and was only 31/2 lengths behind.
The one-month break has done the horse a world of good.
Having Duric back aboard suggests the connections' eagerness to rectify things. The Australian partnered Heavenly Dancer in his debut win - over the Poly 1,000m - and three seconds over 1,200m (once on the Poly and twice on turf).
Frenchman Louis-Philippe Beuzelin was aboard in the chestnut gelding's second-up victory - over the Poly 1,200m.
Take away his last performance, Heavenly Dancer has proven to be so ultra-consistent.He deserves to have an off-day and is now back in business.
Looking at the field, he is the standout bet for the day.
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