Davies Opts For Sydney Race With Bush 3YO
- Thursday, 28 May 2015 07:45
Leon Davies has settled on a Sydney race over one in Brisbane for Crooked Blaze but the odds are shortening that it won't always be the way for the country trainer.
Working a string of racehorses in Tamworth in northern NSW, Davies is better placed than most when it comes to working out whether to head north or go south with a dual acceptor.
And while Crooked Blaze will have his admirers after a 3kg claim in the Tab.com.au Sprint at Rosehill on Saturday, the three-year-old promises to be a beneficiary of Davies' new-season expansion plans.
"I'm looking at opening up a little satellite stable in Brisbane," Davies said.
"It will help horses like Crooked Blaze because there is more races for them.
"We are looking at all options at the moment and as soon as the winter carnival is over we are going to get stuck right into buying some suitable stables and having four or five horses up there."
Crooked Blaze returns to town after finishing second in a support sprint race during the Scone Cup carnival.
Earlier Sydney excursions have netted placings behind highly rated young gallopers Delectation and Scissor Kick.
Both runs confirmed a future for Crooked Blaze but Davies says the results have also worked against the sprinter.
"He ran second to Scissor Kick early on and he got penalised harshly and obviously he is paying for it now," Davies said.
"His worry is that he is not very big and he can't carry a lot of weight."
Davies has engaged James Innes Jnr to reduce Crooked Blaze's weight to 53.5kg.
It's a move that has been replicated with Great Esteem, another acceptor at Doomben and Rosehill, which will be kept in Sydney for an apprentice to ride.
Great Esteem will run in the Schweppes Handicap for which he shares the third line of betting at $7.
Good enough to be given his chance in the 2013 Caulfield Guineas, Great Esteem won his first four starts after a stable switch to Peter and Paul Snowden.
He has been unplaced twice after a break but there was merit in his Scone Cup run after racing on the speed.
Winona Costin, now indentured to the Snowden partnership, will claim 2kg to bring Great Esteem in 1kg over the limit.
