A lot was expected from I’mateez right from the time he made his debut.
I’mateez is the younger half-brother to 10-time Group 1 winner Imperatriz and to date has only two wins from seven starts with three minor placings.
In the care of Alex Rae at Cranbourne, I’mateez will be shooting for his maiden city success when his contests the Rod Johnston Handicap (1100m) at Flemington on Saturday.
Imperatriz had Group 1 success down the Flemington straight, winning the Champions Sprint (1200m) and Lightning Stakes while also running second in a Newmarket Handicap.
Rae hopes running in a straight line will help I’mateez who has been plagued by niggling problems throughout his seven-start career.
After a first-up win at Geelong in April, Rae took I’mateez to Warrnambool for the May Carnival but came home disappointed.
“He’s got a few soundness issues which have pulled him up,” Rae said.
“Immediately after the race we thought the 1200 (metres) saw him out, but on reflection he wasn’t himself and it took us a good couple of weeks to get him over the run, physically.
“He felt the ground. Nothing in particular, but he just jarred up badly which I know is ironic on rain-affected ground.
“His knees, joints, he’s just not that well put together, but with maturity, he’s improving.
“We thought the rain-affected ground was going to be the key with him, then we ran him on rain-affected ground, on a heavy deck, and he pulled up the same.
“Originally, we wanted to avoid running him on hard track. I ran him first-up at Sale last campaign and he could barely walk for a week.
“He’s got his issues, but we’ve ironed them out at the moment.”
Rae took I’mateez to Sale last week for a jump-out over 800m which the gelding won.
He said I’mateez had recovered well from that, and it will give the stable an indication of where the gelding is at in his racing.
“The straight is going to keep him nice and balanced, and he seems to be going really well,” Rae said.
“We took him down to Sale last week for a bit of a blowout and he’s ready to run, so at least we’ll see where he fits in the mix and whether he’s up to metropolitan standard at this time of the year.
“He was a $200,000 yearling and probably a three-quarter-of-a-million-dollar horse if he didn’t have his ailments.
“We’ve had to manage him, and the owners have been patient, but the talent is there.”
