Trainer
Norm Hilton knows what's required to be successful interstate and hopes Carry
Me Bluey can earn a trip away for the spring following his assignment in the
Listed Tattersall's Mile at Eagle Farm on Saturday.
Carry Me
Bluey ended a lean winter trot with his last start victory in this month's
South Grafton Cup.
It was the
four-year-old's first win in five starts this campaign and first in seven
months since winning at Eagle Farm last December.
Hilton is
unsure why it took Carry Me Bluey so long to break through this campaign but
he's confident the son of Carry The Flag is back to his best.
"I
like taking horses away and I'm thinking of sending Carry Me Bluey to Melbourne
for the spring," Hilton said.
Hilton
enjoyed success during the 2010 Melbourne spring carnival with his former top
sprinter Poor Judge who won the G3 Chatham Stakes and was placed in the G1
Toorak Handicap that year.
He also campaigned
Bold Glance during last year's Sydney autumn when Bold Glance figured in the G1
Doncaster Mile and G3 Doncaster Mile Prelude placings at Randwick.
Hilton believes
Carry Me Bluey's confidence has returned following his South Grafton Cup
victory for apprentice Alannah Fancourt.
"He'd
been a bit off before Grafton but he
thinks he's 10 foot tall and bulletproof again," Hilton said.
"He's
struck a few wet tracks this prep and there were a few rides that didn't go the
way we hoped."
Hilton
rates another potential Melbourne visitor
Belltone as the hardest to beat along with the Gerald Ryan-trained Adnocon.
Belltone has
been in excellent form and lived up to his second in last month's G2 QTC Cup at
Eagle Farm with wins in the Listed Eye Liner Stakes at Ipswich and Listed
Glasshouse Handicap at Caloundra.
Trainer Kelso
Wood believes Belltone is a worthy travelling companion to Melbourne with his G1
TJ Smith Stakes winner Sizzling.
Adnocon returned
to Queensland this winter but failed to claim the Eye Liner Stakes for a third
straight time when placed behind Belltone in his comeback last month.
The
six-year-old then scored a convincing 1200-metre win in the Listed Ascot
Handicap at Eagle Farm last start.
Ryan
concedes the jump in distance from 1200 metres to 1600 metres isn't ideal for
Adnocon but is confident the gelding will handle the test.
"Originally
I planned to run him in the Eye Liner and then the Glasshouse at the Sunshine
Coast and then go into this race," Ryan said.
"He was
scratched because of the heavy track in
the Glasshouse so I brought him back to the 1200 metres last week to get a race
under his belt."
Racing Queensland webnews July
20
Photo: Trackside Photography
