AWESOME is how Nikki Burke described the trial today of Unpretentious, which heads to Saturday week’s Goodwood at Morphettville. Burke didn’t hide her delight after Unpretentious, ridden by Damien Oliver, trialled on the inside grass at Cranbourne, reports Racing Network.
Asked how Unprententious, beaten in a three-way photo finish in the Group 1 William Reid Stakes, trialled, Burke replied: “Awesome, I’m just rapt with him.”
After his Group 1 placing, Burke gave the five-year-old a week’s break and then sent him to a water-walker complex for two weeks.
With regular jockey Craig Williams riding in Japan for the next couple of months, Burke is hoping that Oliver will ride Unpretentious in the $500,000 Group 1.
“He never committed, but I’m sure he will be riding him,” Burke said.
“The horse’s wind is great, he’s fit and he’s very well. I’m very, very happy with him.”
Apart from a below-par run in the Newmarket Handicap behind the dominant Lankan Rupee, Unpretentious was a close-up fifth behind Snitzerland in the Black Caviar Lightning and then flew home to be narrowly beaten behind Spirit Of Boom and Fontelina in the William Reid.