Wecando fresh from spell
Stephen Gray-trained 4YO can bounce back in Sunday's Class 4 Premier race over the Polytrack 1,200m
A 5½-month spell seems to have worked wonders for last-start beaten favourite Wecando.
On the track at Kranji yesterday morning, the Stephen Gray-trained four-year-old New Zealand-bred showed good form when taken out by reigning champion jockey Vlad Duric.
Picking up pace from the backstretch, the brown gelding reeled off 600m on the main Polytrack in 39.6sec without being extended. He pulled up fresh as a daisy.
Wecando has proven to be a horse with a future.
From just four starts, he scored once and was second twice. His only blot was his last start on June 10 as the $13 favourite but that was with excuses.
He jumped awkwardly inwards, bumping heavily with Phuket. He also raced keenly in the early stages and had to be taken inwards to obtain clear running near the 300m mark.
He eventually finished sixth, 5¾ lengths behind the winner Justice Smart in the Novice event over 1,400m on turf. Without these incidents, he could run a place.
Gray wisely gave his charge a rest after that and Wecando appeared to have benefited from it. In the second of his two trials on Nov 22, he finished a nice third behind Fame Star, who clocked a decent 1min 00.99sec for the Poly 1,000m.
Wecando, who won second-up by two easy lengths over the Poly 1,200m, stepped up his preparations with more speed work and now looks ready to score again on Sunday.
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now