European import Mister Sea Wolf is primed to attack the field in the Group 2 $250,000 Villiers Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on Saturday.
Interlocuter, above, is the favourite for the 2017 Villiers Stakes at Randwick. Photo by Steve Hart.
Mister Sea Wolf will be having his second start for premiership winning trainer Chris Waller and the stable has reported that the six year old has trained on in great style following his first up nose second to Testashadow in the Group 3 $150,000 Festival Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill on December 2.
“He has trained on really well and Kerrin (McEvoy) galloped him on Tuesday morning and gave a glowing report. He is a tough horse who wants to try for you,’’ stable foreman Charlie Duckworth reports to The Daily Telegraph.
Duckworth said the stable was very impressed with Mister Sea Wolf’s first run on Australian soil considering that the imported horses usually take at least one preparation to find their best form.
“He was at Werribee when he first came into quarantine and had a good grounding there,’’ Duckworth said.
“Then he came to us in Sydney and went enormous first up in the Festival Stakes.
“It was exciting for us to see Mister Sea Wolf run so well because of most of our European horses, in their first preparations here, show us a fraction of what we get from them in later preparations.’’
“A lot of the European horses want to overdo things when they first race here because of the slower tempo mid-race in Australia but not this horse, he is just a professional.”
Kerrin McEvoy replaces Tim Clark on Mister Sea Wolf who will jump from barrier twelve in the Villiers Stakes field that has been reduced to fourteen runners following the early scratching of the Desleigh Forster trainer Someday.
Mister Sea Wolf will meet Testashadow 0.5kg better at the weights in the Villiers Stakes and is currently the $5.50 second favourite at Ladbrokes.com.au behind the James Cummings trained Interlocuter at $3.50 while Testashadow is marked as a $17 chance.
Interlocuter has drawn nicely at barrier four with Tye Angland in the saddle while Testashadow with Ben Melham will jump from gate eight.
