After officially securing his sixth consecutive Premiership title earlier in the week, leading trainer Scott Brunton will start work in the new season with a team of seven horses engaged in Devonport on Sunday.
Based at Seven Mile Beach in the south of the state, Brunton is a reluctant traveller to the Devonport synthetic with only eight of his 50 winners last season coming at the track.
The COVID-19 enforced shutdown of racing has changed Brunton’s plans however, and punters can expect to see more of his horses in Devonport than usual over the next two months.
“Because of the Coronavirus, I’ve had a few more come into work, so I’ve got to go up there,” explained Scott Brunton.
“You have to space their runs though as it takes something out of the horses every time you go there,” added the trainer on the eight-hour round trip from his stables.
On Sunday, Brunton will saddle up two horses in the third race on the program, a 3YO maiden over 1009m.
Reite Den Blitz made an impression during her two-year-old campaign and was given a soft time of it when winning a trial in Hobart on 20 July.
“I wouldn’t swap her with any others in the race, and the inside draw looks an advantage.
“I followed a similar path with Life on the Wire. Same maiden, same everything,” said the trainer referring to his former Group winning mare that won her maiden in Devonport back in 2016.
Freak on A Lead failed to beat a horse home on debut, a run that caught the trainer by surprise.
“I didn’t expect him to race that poorly, so that was a bit of a shock.
“His trial since then was better which is more the horse we expect to see on race day.”
Both horses are having their first run on the synthetic track which Brunton says is always a query.
Vallabar (David Pires) wins race 1 in Launceston on 14 June.
“I have no idea whether they will handle it (the synthetic), but the thing there is that it’s a momentum track.
“It’s also not just how they handle it on race day but how they pull up from it afterwards.”
Two horses that do have experience in Devonport are Vallabar and Fragment who each placed at their most recent start.
Vallabar resented the slow tempo when finishing third in a Class 1 over 1350m and upon reflection Brunton says the rider may have been better served holding the lead.
“He (David Pires) hasn’t made many mistakes since he’s been back so we can forgive him that one.
“There doesn’t look to be much pace in the race on Sunday, so hopefully we will jump and roll forward.”
Fragment runs in the open handicap over 1350m and has won twice at the track when in the care of previous trainer Barry Campbell.
“It looks a good race for him.
“As long as they run along at a true tempo and they are making the right amount of ground, I reckon he can run over the top of them,” said Brunton on the eight-year-old who finished second to Minute Repeater, trained by his partner Tegan Keys last start and they meet again on Sunday.
“It wouldn’t shock me totally if he won again Minute Repeater. He’s an 11-year-old, but he doesn’t know it.”
Watch the replay of Minute Repeater beating Fragment home in Hobart.