SUMMER excitement machine Care To Think is at a skinny quote to extend his winning sequence to six in Saturday’s Liverpool City Cup at Randwick but trainer Matt Dunn fears the 58½kg impost.
Care To Think opened at $ 2.10 with Ladbrokes on Wednesday but had eased to $ 2.40 on Thursday for the Group 3 race, with bookmakers perhaps agreeing with Dunn’s fears.
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Asked about his confidence levels ahead of his star’s return, Dunn was succinct.
“He’s got too much weight,” he said. “Egg Tart (57½ kg) has won two Group 1 races, Crack Me Up (59kg) has won a Group 2 and we’ve only won a restricted Listed race.
“He’s won more prizemoney than the others but it’s all centred around one race. The previous start wasn’t even Listed. Three starts ago he was only winning a Class 6 Plate.
“You usually get a four-point adjustment going to New South Wales but they didn’t adjust him. He’s got his same Queensland rating.”
The weight aside, Dunn said Care To Think was in superb touch based on a sparkling recent trial and a rousing gallop on Wednesday.
“I’m very happy with where he’s at,” Dunn said. “But he’s pretty short in the market and he has barrier 12 to overcome as well.”
Stablemate Snitz won a 1000m Open trial at the Gold Coast on Thursday in preparation for his tilt on the Country Championships Qualifier at Grafton on March 11.
“He missed a run because of the wet last Saturday, so I needed to do something with him and I wanted him to have a good hitout,” Dunn said. “It may not be a bad thing (being washed out). If he’d won that race he would have got 59kg. Now he gets in with 57½ kg.”
■ GAI Waterhouse has won the Surround Stakes four times and punters are warming to her adding a fifth with training partner Adrian Bott as the pair saddle Shumookh in the inaugural running of the race at Group 1 level at Randwick on Saturday.
Shumookh, who has drawn the inside barrier, opened $ 6 with Ladbrokes, but has firmed to $ 4.50, with Alizee easing from $ 2.05 to $ 2.15.
Barbie flying after sizzling time in trial
OUTBACK Barbie torched the clock in a spectacular 9½-length trial win over 1000m on the Gold Coast on Thursday.
Ridden by Jim Byrne, Outback Barbie ran a second faster than stablemate Ef Troop, who won his heat by three lengths under Jeff Lloyd.
The pair will run in the Reisling Stakes and Todman Trial respectively at Rosehill next Saturday in a bid to confirm themselves as legitimate Golden Slipper contenders.
Byrne, who was thrown from Outback Barbie when she did “a U-turn” at the end of the trial, said she was a better filly this preparation.
“The last trial she had was against Ef Troop and I thought she was really smoking that day and she gave me a stronger feel again (yesterday). You couldn’t fault the way she went,” he said. “She’s pretty special. I’ve liked her from day one and she’s just got stronger all the way through. I expect her to be extremely competitive in Sydney.”
■ STUART Kendrick’s Magic Millions runner-up Fullazaboot will not race in the autumn carnival after a seven-figure deal was struck to sell her to Hong Kong.
