Maluckyday will be stepping up to 2100 metres in the Listed ATC Cup (2100m) for the first time this preparation and trainer Joseph Pride said that he is happy with the form of the veteran stayer.
Trainer Joseph Pride is confident that Maluckyday can perform well in the ATC Cup at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday. Photo by: Daniel Costello
Maluckyday made his debut for Pride in the City Tattersalls Club Handicap (1400m) at Royal Randwick on October 19 and worked home strongly to finish sixth, within one and a half lengths of the winner Strike The Stars, before being slightly outpaced in the Filante Handicap (1500m) at Rosehill Gardens at the start of the month.
The Zabeel gelding missed a run over 1900 meters a fortnight ago but performed fairly in a barrier trial over 1200 metres at Warwick Farm last Saturday and Pride told Racing Ahead that he is looking forward to Maluckyday getting his first chance over an appropriate trip at Rosehill Gardens this weekend.
“I have been happy with him,” Pride said.
“I think that his first two runs have been really good.
“He got sort of outpaced the other day and I missed in between, we just had a slight hiccup with him, when he should have gone around in a 1900.
“I tried to replace it with a trial last week, which I thought that he trialed well in and he goes to the races up to his right trip and with the blinkers on this Saturday.”
There does not appear to be a great deal of speed in the ATC Cup, with Gai Waterhouse-trained Travolta the likely leader, and Pride admits that he would like to see Maluckyday closer to the pace in the Listed event.
Maluckyday showed a little bit of tactical speed at the start of his racing career but in the last few years has been ridden almost exclusively as a backmarker and Pride said he has not seen a great deal of early pace from the seven-year-old.
“I hope so but I don’t know so,” Pride said when asked if he wanted to see Maluckyday closer to the front of the field.
“He hasn’t shown me that much speed so far.
“He has top end speed and he has finished his work off really well.
“In his first two runs in he hasn’t really shown much pace in very different types of races to what he is in tomorrow.”
Maluckday has not recorded a race win since his triumph in the 2010 Group 3 Lexus Stakes (2500m) but has received some support to end his drought and is currently available at odds of $9.
