Margins on Trial for Southern Spring Campaign

Promising stayer Margins will be on trial for a southern spring campaign tomorrow when he contests the Ormiston College Old Collegians Handicap (1600m) at Doomben.

The Toowoomba gelding signalled his potential at the Brisbane winter carnival when he produced a narrow second to Brambles in the Group 3 Rough Habit Plate (2000m) despite missing the start and having to travel around the entire field.

While Margins had a month in the paddock after suffering a cut to his front pastern during the race, Brambles went on to be a winter star when winning the Group 3 Grand Prix Stakes (2200m) and the Group 1 Queensland Derby (2400m).

Trainer Ben Currie is confident that form will hold up on Saturday and admitted he will be disappointed if the four-year-old doesn’t pass the post in front.

“He’s got a bit of class and I’d probably be disappointed if he didn’t win tomorrow,” Currie said.

“He’s not fully fit yet but he gets in nicely at the minimum (54kg) with the claim. He’s Group 3 placed which was a close second to Brambles and he probably should’ve beaten him.”

Provided all goes to plan on Saturday, Currie will have no hesitations in taking the son of Parameter south to chase the spring riches and one potential target is the Group 2 Hill Stakes (2000m) at Randwick on September 22.

“We’ve definitely got Sydney and Melbourne plans in the back of our minds,” Currie said.

“If he went really well tomorrow we might look at something like the Hill Stakes in Sydney in a fortnight.

“But that might be a bit too rushed in which case we would run him over 2000 metres in Brisbane before looking at something in Melbourne.”

A winner of four of 14 starts, Margins kicked off his spring campaign over 1200 metres two weeks ago where he ran home strongly to finish in seventh place.

Currie said the first-up run was not without merit and is looking forward to seeing an improved performance over a more suitable trip this weekend.

“We were pretty happy with the run the other day. They walked in front of him and he finished off nicely,” Currie said.

“He’s a stayer and he’s only going to get better as he steps up in distance.”

About The Author