VICTORIAN thoroughbred trainer Sam Pritchard-Gordon has opted not to accept with his handy weight-for-age horse Lord Da Vinci that was nominated to contest the $50,000 UBET.com WFA Stakes over 1200 metres in Launceston on Wednesday night.
The nominations for the race include local star Admiral that appears to have scared off other interstate contenders.
Acceptances for the race close tomorrow at 9am.
“I have reconsidered our options with Lord Da Vinci and decided it’s probably a long way to go to run second with Admiral in your race,” Pritchard-Gordon said yesterday.
“We will instead focus on a race at Geelong today,” he said.
There was interest from two other stables but they too have opted to bypass Wednesday’s race.
However the Stuart Gandy-trained Geegees Doublejay is engaged and he could represent a serious danger to Admiral over the 1200-metre trip.
Admiral is dropping back in distance from the 1600 metres of the Tasmanian Stakes that he won so convincingly in Launceston two weeks ago but even his trainer Barry Campbell said his stable star will be vulnerable dropping back so dramatically in distance.
“Admiral is an outstanding individual but it is quite a test for him to come back to 1200m but he has to have another run before he goes to the Thomas Lyons over 1400m next month and this is the only other weight-for-age race available,” Campbell said.