Trainer Stuart Kendrick has confirmed that both Neo and Time For War will be included in the 2015 Doomben 10,000 field, which will be released tomorrow.
Neo is set to make his Australian racing debut in the 2015 Doomben 10,000 in Brisbane this weekend. Photo by: Daniel Costello
Neo stamped himself as a horse to watch during the 2015 Brisbane Winter Racing Carnival when he took out the Listed Prime Minister’s Cup (1400m) at the Gold Coast on April 25, but he was unable to run out a strong mile in the Listed Members’ Handicap (1600m) at Doomben on May 9.
Kendrick told Racing Ahead that he was disappointed with the effort of Neo in the Members’ Handicap, but he still believes that the One Cool Cat gelding is worthy of a place in the 2015 Doomben 10,000 field and he is hopeful that there is some wet weather in Brisbane this week to give the five-year-old an improved chance in the Group 1 event.
“They will both be accepted and if they get a run they will both be going around,” Kendrick said.
“We were a little bit disappointed the other day.
“He gave every indication that the mile may suit him, but looking at it we just don’t think that he ran the mile out and he won the Prime Minister’s Cup over 1400 the start before, so I think the drop back in trip will help him after we gave him an easy week last week.
“The owners sent the horse to me at the beginning of the preparation and they had the dream of maybe sneaking into one of these Group 1s and he has come through those earlier races really well, we had the nomination in and at this stage he is probably on the border of sneaking in.
“He would obviously be better suited at the handicaps instead of weight-for-age, but hopefully the rain sticks around, he is very good on the wet and it might slow a few of the others down to get him into the race a bit.”
Time For War is yet to record a race win since he joined the Kendrick stable, but he has produced two tough performances in the Group 3 Gold Coast Guineas (1200m) on April 25 and the Listed Glasshouse Handicap (1300m) at Sunshine Coast on May 16 and he will be given the opportunity to back-up in the Doomben 10,000 this weekend.
Kendrick said that he was thrilled with the way that Time For War bounced back from the setback he had in the lead-up to the Group 1 BTC Cup (1200m) and he is confident that the Snitzel colt can take another step forward in the Doomben 10,000 this weekend.
“He is just such a tough horse and he ran terrific, so he will take his place in the field as well,” Kendrick said.
“He has a lot of natural ability the horse and he has developed into a nice, strong colt.
“We had a little setback, he was meant to run in the BTC Cup, but I was wrapped with the run and I think that he will take some improvement from it.”
Neo is currently available at the 2015 Doomben 10,000 odds of $101, while Time For War is placed at $26 to record a maiden win at Group 1 level.
