The 2014 Festival Stakes odds of Sir Moments have shortened significantly in the past 24 hours and the Choisir gelding is now favourite to take out the Listed event at Rosehill Gardens this weekend.
Tim Bell will have the chance to steer Sir Moments to another race win in the 2014 Festival Stakes. Photo by: Daniel Costello
Sir Moments opened at a quote of $5.50 in early Festival Stakes betting markets, but there has been consistent support for the Queensland Guineas winner and he is now into $4.40 to record back-to-back wins.
The talented gelding stamped himself as a horse to watch when he took out the Group 2 Queensland Guineas (1400m) and Listed Daybreak Lover Stakes (1600m) during the 2014 Brisbane Winter Racing Carnival before he returned to racing with a third place finish in the Padua College Handicap (1350m) at Doomben on November 1 and took out the Super Starfish Handicap (1400m) at the Gold Coast on November 15.
Trainer Steven O’Dea has been delighted with the way that Sir Moments has returned to racing and the Eagle Farm-based trainer told Racing Ahead this morning that he is confident the four-year-old still has improvement in front of him heading into the Festival Stakes.
“We are really delighted with how he has come back this preparation,” O’Dea said.
“It was a good third first-up on a track that probably doesn’t really suit, but he hit the line nicely and then he was a dominant winner with a bit of weight on his back at the Gold Coast the other day.
“He has probably been a real slow developer, but he has slowly strengthened up from preparation to preparation.
“He is definitely a horse that will continue to improve.”
Sir Moments has generally been settled towards the tail of the field in the majority of his race starts during his racing career to date and O’Dea expects jockey Tim Bell to let the son of Choisir settle in the early stages of the Festival Stakes.
O’Dea believes that there will be enough early speed to give Sir Moments the chance to run on strongly in the final stages of the race and expects to see his star galloper hitting the line strongly in the $100,000 event.
“There seems to be reasonable speed on paper in that race and hopefully they run along genuinely enough for him.
“He is probably going to be in the back half of the field and just in front of a few, but he is the sort of horse that likes to get back and come with one run.
“He is a chaser and loves to really attack the line and run them down.
“That will suit him.”
Sir Moments is set to contest the Group 2 Villiers Stakes (1600m) at Royal Randwick on December 13 before heading for a freshen up ahead of an autumn preparation.
