Co-trainer Peter Snowden admits the Acatour needs more than his fair share of luck to win the Listed $175,000 City Of Ipswich Eye Liner Stakes (1350m) at Ipswich on Saturday.
Acatour, above will need plenty of luck to win the Eye Liner Stakes at Ipswich. Photo by Steve Hart.
Acatour is currently the $5 favourite at Ladbrokes.com.au for the Eye Liner Stakes but has to overcome a wide barrier on heavy rated track.
“He will need luck, he will get back to midfield or a bit worse and that track is going to be hard for swoopers to get them, but he’s good enough to win if he gets the right luck,” Snowden told The Courier-Mail.
The Sebring colt is the only three year old in the Eye Liner Stakes and will jump from barrier 10 in the sixteen horse field if all the emergencies fail to gain a start.
The Ipswich track was still rated a heavy 8 on Friday morning and Snowden said that he thought Acatour would struggle if the track got downgraded on race day even though he recorded a three and half lengths win against his own age group on a heavy 8 track in the Group 3 $200,000 Chine Horse Club Carbine Club Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on April 1.
“If it’s just a soft track, no problem. Heavy (10), that’s a bit of an issue,” Snowden said.
Snowden, who trains in partnership with his son Paul at Randwick, has freshened Acatour up since his last start eighth in the Group 3 $150,000 Mostyn Copper Group Frank Packer Plate (2000m) at Randwick on April 15 and expect him to race well on the fresh side.
“He’s a bit of a funny horse, but I’ve worked him out. He’s a fresh horse, space his runs and keep him up to a mile,” Snowden said.
“He will run well. He’s very fresh, he’s had two trials and both were strong over 1000m.”
Snowden has only pencilled in two Winter Carnival runs for Acatour who will head to the Group 3 $125,000 XXXX Sunshine Coast Guineas (1600m) at the Sunshine Coast on July 1 after the Eye Liner Stakes.
Acatour has remained solid at $5 in the betting just ahead of the Toby Edmonds trained The Virginian at $6, Perfect Dare at $7.50 and Shiraz, Cantbuybetter and Yesterday’s Songs all on the next line of betting at $8.50.
