Spy Wears Prado can lay claim to being the best wet-tracker in Tasmania and he is likely to have conditions to suit when he tackles the Harcourt Northern Suburbs (Bm82) Handicap in Hobart at UBET Park on Sunday.
Spy Wears Prado has won 10 of his 42 starts for Longford trainer Dianne Ray-Luttrell, with six of his wins coming on heavy tracks and the other four on slow tracks (now classified as soft). He has also scored six of his 10 wins over 1400 metres, the distance of Sunday’s race.
After winning two races last winter, Ray-Luttrell freshened Spy Wears Prado before taking him to Melbourne in October for an $80,000 benchmark 90 race at Caulfield restricted to grey horses. Unfortunately, he struck a firm track but still ran a respectable seventh behind Freshwater Storm, beaten just over five lengths.
The seven-year-old then returned home for a decent spell, not returning to the races until early April. He showed plenty of speed at his first-up run before fading to finish sixth to He’s Applz in a benchmark 82 race in Launceston, then stepped up to open company in the $25,000 Jack Frost Quality when he ran last behind Innocent Gamble but beaten only 4-1/4 lengths.
Significantly, both those runs were on dry tracks. He will get much softer conditions on Sunday when he drops back in class and looks well weighted after the claim for apprentice Hayley McCarthy.
Spy Wears Prado is raced by his breeders David and Patricianne Cochrane, of Bowthorpe Stud, at Longford. He is by their stallion El Maggiore.
Another superior wet-tracker engaged on Sunday is the Adam Trinder-trained Sun Disk who will contest the Andrew Walter Constructions (Bm72) Handicap over 2100 metres. Sun Disk has won seven races – four on soft tracks and three on heavy – and has reveled in the heavy conditions at his past two runs on the Hobart circuit. He followed a close second to Flying Cruiser over 2100 metres on May 10 with a dominant win over 2400 metres on May 19. Trinder’s in-form stable apprentice Boris Thornton again has the ride and, after his two kilogram claim, Sun Disk will carry three kilograms less than he did at his most recent win.
By GREG MANSFIELD (Examiner)