Moonee Valley specialist The Cleaner will be chasing his third win in the Group 2 $250,000 Dato’ Tan Chin Nam Stakes (1600m) on Saturday when he heads back to his favourite track.
The Cleaner, above, is chasing his third win in the Dato’ Tan Chin Nam Stakes at Moonee Valley. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.
The Cleaner has recorded five wins at Moonee Valley, four of them over the same course and distance as Saturday’s weight for age contest.
The exciting front runner will strip fitter for his first up eleventh to Miss Rose De Lago in the Group 2 $200,000 Back To Caulfield P.B. Lawrence Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on August 13 and trainer Peter Gelagotis is giving him a great chance to create history.
“I think the horse will acquit himself well. He loves the track and he gets his best scenario thrown at him for this prep so far,” Gelagotis told RSN’s Racing Ahead.
“We have been able to rehab him back to his full soundness.”
“Hopefully we have ticked all the boxes going to the race and we can just get a bit of luck in running and see the horse perform well.
“It would be an awesome thing to walk away and be part of history if he can win three in a row, that would be gold.”
The Cleaner was given no peace in front in the P.B. Lawrence Stakes when Lord Of The Sky took him on in the early and middle stages and faded in the straight to only be beaten three and a half lengths.
“I though the horse ran really really well. I didn’t have him fully wound up going into that race, but I had nothing to draw a comparison to,” Gelagotis said.
“We gave him some jump outs kept him happy the whole time.”
“One thing that I probably learned from that run going forward is that he is a very lazy track worker and he is a horse that you have to keep the work up to him because he can slip away from you very quickly.”
“Lord Of The Sky didn’t help the equation. The Cleaner hasn’t done much first up, he hasn’t got a 1400m win on the board anywhere. Yes he did run second last year but he had it his own way.”
Gelagotis is hoping The Cleaner can find his favourite spot in front by himself where he likes to race, and Steven Arnold will have to let him slide across from a wide barrier in the early stages to give him every chance to find his way back into the winner’s stall.
The Cleaner is marked as a $14 chance for the Dato’ Tan Chin Nam Stakes at Ladbrokes.com.au in a wide betting race that has six runners under the $10 mark.
Tosen Stardom, one of four Darren Weir runners, tops the market order at $5.50 ahead of The United States at $6.50 and Miss Rose De Lago at $7.
Market order for the Dato’ Tan Chin Nam Stakes at Ladbrokes.com.au: $5.50 Tosen Stardom, $6.50 The United States, $7 Miss Rose De Lago, $7.50 Jameka, Mahuta, $9.50 Sauvito, $14 The Cleaner, $15 Entirely Platinum, $18 Set Square, $20 Jacquinot Bay, $21 Awesome Rock, Excess Knowledge, $26 Tavago, $41 Signoff, $51 Real Love.
