DESPITE a lacklustre exhibition gallop by All Silent at Betfair Park yesterday, trainer Grahame Begg said the straight-track specialist was on target for Saturday week's group 1 Newmarket Handicap at Flemington, reports The Age.It says: A failure in the Hong Kong Sprint in December and a minor injury hiccup haven't deterred Begg in the lead-up to the Newmarket, so the gallop, which Begg described as typical All Silent work, certainly wasn't going to derail his plans to tackle the $1 million spri
DESPITE a lacklustre exhibition gallop by All Silent at Betfair Park yesterday, trainer Grahame Begg said the straight-track specialist was on target for Saturday week's group 1 Newmarket Handicap at Flemington, reports The Age.
It says: A failure in the Hong Kong Sprint in December and a minor injury hiccup haven't deterred Begg in the lead-up to the Newmarket, so the gallop, which Begg described as typical All Silent work, certainly wasn't going to derail his plans to tackle the $1 million sprint.
"He's never been a flash track worker at any time of his life and he's never won a gallop, I don't think. It was just nice work but the object was to bring [him] over for a day out, a trip out in the float to simulate race day," Begg said. "He's going to have a jumpout next Tuesday at Flemington and that will have him right at his top."
Working with a horse from the Russell Cameron stable, All Silent stood his work partner around four lengths at the 200-metre mark before Nick Hall asked the five-year-old to increase speed. He did but the response was laborious rather than electrifying.
All Silent has 57 kilograms in the Newmarket and is likely to be topweight and favourite, particularly after wins in the Gilgai Stakes and Patinack Classic at Flemington during the spring carnival.