Command The Wind, a model of consistency, will run in Saturday's Even Stevens Handicap (2400m) at Caulfield as a precursor to the $62,600 Adelaide Bank Onkaparinga Cup (2150m) on April 21.

 

Trevor Bailey, who manages his father's Melbourne operation at Caulfield, said the Onkaparinga Cup was an ideal race for the five-year-old, who has rarely been out of the money since joining the stable last year.

 

Last weekend, Command The Wind finished third to Grey Song and Badger's Wood on the Lakeside track at Sandown after being narrowly beaten by Heist on the Hillside circuit there at his previous outing. He was a winner at Sandown in February over 2100m.

 

The Baileys have designs on completing a hat-trick of victories in the $62,600 Oakbank Stakes (1100m) with talented sprinting mare Speaker on Easter Saturday.

 

They produced Libidinious to win the Listed race last year after taking it out on their first foray into the Adelaide Hills with Point Danger in 2001.

 

"She flew in a jump out at home recently and we are keen for her to get some black type alongside her name," Bailey said.

 

Speaker hasn't started since winning in dominant fashion over 1005m at Werribee in early December. She has won six of her 15 starts, five of them on city tracks.

 

Never Promised, a recent acquisition from Sydney to the stable and a winner at Geelong last month, will join Command The Wind and Speaker on the float to South Australia. She will be aimed at the $25,400 AAMI Grey Handicap (1100m) on Easter Monday.

 

"The Oakbank people have been good to us and we've had a bit of luck there in the past so it will be good to go back again this year with a few horses," Bailey said.

 

Fellow Caulfield trainer Brendan McCarthy will pursue a start in the $25,400 Alcohol Go-Easy Handicap (1050m) with Fading, despite her below-par effort at Sandown on Wednesday.

 

"She likes hilly tracks and any jar out of the ground and her previous form had been quite good," McCarthy said.

 

Fading strung together a hat-trick of wins at Hanging Rock, Stony Creek and Colac between late January and early March.

 

Nominations for the Oakbank Easter Jumps Carnival close on April 10 (next Thursday) at 12 noon.

Media Release - Oakbank Racing Club