John Sadler is well aware the David Bourke Provincial Plate is unlikely to be as easy a watch for him as the last time Charmed Harmony went to the races.
At Sportingbet Park (Sandown) on 11 June the free-rolling gelding ran his rivals ragged, coasting to an eight-length victory in a midweek benchmark 70 event.
Sadler knows the $100,000 Provincial Plate, the headline event on Saturday’s Flemington card, is a significant step up on that but said it was a nice progression for the four-year-old, who will carry 54.5kg – just 0.5kg over the limit weight.
“He has been in a long time, a hell of a long time, and you’d think he’s got to be close to having had enough but he’s shown absolutely no signs at the stable that he’s finished as yet,” Sadler said.
“So hopefully we get one more (run) out of him and it’s a win.
“He’s well-placed in the race. For a horse that’s going through his classes, it looks a nice race for him.
“He’s rated 77 and he’s meeting a lot of horses that are rated under that and meeting them at pretty much the same weight and he’s getting weight from the horses above him that he should be getting so he looks well in.”
TAB agrees that Charmed Harmony, who also won the start before his Sandown romp and has five wins from his 13 starts, appears well in and has him the shortest-priced favourite on the Flemington card at $1.80.
Glen Boss takes over from Tom Sadler, who is unable to make Charmed Harmony’s weight, for Saturday’s race and will also be aboard two of Sadler’s other three runners for the day.
Reckless Assassin, a $26 chance, will benefit from the run in Heat 4 of the Leilaini Series, but Sadler has high hopes for Boss’s other mount, Henwood, in Heat 6 of the VRC/CRV Winter Championship Series.
“Bossy rode him last Thursday morning and said he’s one run away from being cherry ripe and Tom rode him yesterday morning and said he’s nearly there,” Sadler said of Henwood, a $6.50 chance.
“We set him for the (Winter Championship) final, so I tried to have him not too forward and I’d be disappointed if he’s not placed.”
The $150,000 Listed Winter Championship Series Final will be run at Flemington on 12 July.
Vain Queen is also on trial for a Listed race that day – the All Victorian Sprint Series Final – and Sadler is looking for the last-start Moonee Valley winner to justify a position in that race via Saturday’s eighth heat of the series.
“It’s a handy field and she needs to pull something out of the bag,” Sadler said. “She’d want to improve a couple of lengths on Moonee Valley to be able to win this race.
“She’s going to have to run really well in this to have a crack at the Listed race at Flemington in a fortnight.”
Vain Queen, who will be ridden by Katelyn Mallyon, is the $4.40 second favourite behind The Thief ($4) in an event that also includes Don’t Get Excited ($7), Daytona Grey ($8.50), Doubtfilly ($8.50) and Shanghai Warrior ($9).
Full fields for all races on the Flemington card are available via the link...Racing Victoria.