Luckygray set for Victoria carnival
June 10, 2012 15:30:16 UK
Railway Stakes champion Luckygray is bound for Victoria's richest carnival next spring.
Trainer Gino Poletti has forecast a spring campaign for the grey following his brilliant wins in the Roma Cup (1200m) and yesterday's Belmont Sprint (1400m) at Belmont Park,
Luckygray carried equal weights under the weight-for-age conditions of the Group 3 Roma Cup first-up to blitz his rivals by 3 1/2 lengths on 26th May .
Yesterday the son of Bradury's Luck repeated the dose under a big weight on 61kg to show he was in contention to take on the best sprinters in the land next spring.
Poletti will return Luckygray to weight-for-age for his final start this preparation in the Group 3 Hyperion Stakes (1600m) in a fortnight before mapping out a campaign in Melbourne.
If you allow him to be ridden to his strengths he's pretty well unbeatable here.
Gino Poletti
"It was the first day I thought he could get beat ever since I've been racing him and that includes the (Group I) Railway (Stakes)," Poletti said.
Regular jockey Shaun O'Donnell had the four-year-old settled as usual at the back of the field, before edging before the 600m giving the leader a 15-length break.
"He was (a long way off them). If you allow him to be ridden to his strengths he's pretty well unbeatable here," Poletti said.
Poletti added: "Each time he'd gone through the Melbourne spring programming there was a better race than the one he was going for. We've still got six weeks after the Hyperion to get him over there. We'll wait until after his next run before we decide what he will target."
Meanwhile, Racing Queensland has boosted prize money across all three codes of racing in Queensland by $3.5million.
The increases will become effective from September 1 thanks to the new State Government's $5million commitment to the Queensland Thoroughbred Investment Scheme.
"The funding allocation to QTIS from the Government has freed up funds previously used by RQL for this purpose, which can now be redirected toward much needed prizemoney," said RQ chairman Kevin Dixon.
"In addition, RQL has identified internal administration savings which will be reallocated and used to fund the remaining $1million of the increase.
"Whilst prizemoney is still far from parity with the southern states, RQL recognises that the new LNP Government has acted quickly to assist the industry."
bet365 offer Best Odds Guaranteed on every horse race - every day.
View all Horse Racing betting