Joseph O’Brien has endured a frustrating run with his big Spring Carnival team, but the canny Irishman will have one last throw at the stumps at Sandown next Saturday.
His final runner of the Melbourne spring will be Small Fry in the $750,000 Zipping Classic.
The 2400-metre Group 2 will be Small Fry’s final start for O’Brien, after which he will join the Phillip and Tommy Stokes stable, and he has his fingers crossed for a farewell win.
“He’s going to run in the Zipping, he had a nice run at Geelong obviously and that’s the plan for him,” O’Brien said.
“He’s owned by OTI, Terry Henderson and the team there, and we love working with the guys and it would be nice if he could finish off the couple of weeks here on good note.”
O’Brien had nine lodgers at the Werribee quarantine facility this spring, five of whom contested the Melbourne Cup. The best finishing position was achieved by Sons And Lovers, who finished fourth.
One-time Melbourne Cup favourite Defiantly finished fourth at his only start, in Saturday’s Group 3 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2600m), after missing the Melbourne Cup.
Small Fry posted O’Brien’s best result for spring when second in the Group 3 Geelong Cup (2400m), where he was beaten half-a-length by Point Of Law, whose only subsequent start resulted in a brilliant Melbourne Cup win.
O’Brien light-heartedly lamented choosing the Geelong Cup as the place to try and seal a Melbourne Cup start with Small Fry, but said it at least proved he is going well.
“We picked the wrong prep,” O’Brien said with a laugh.
“But he seems in good form anyway. We don’t do a lot with him, but he seems in good form and it looks like a nice spot for him.”
Small Fry could have some stiff competition at Sandown with Ciaron Maher giving consideration to a start with his Melbourne Cup placegetters from the past two seasons, Juja Kibo and Middle Earth, while last year’s winner She’s A Hustler will also be there.
