Wells confident California Flyer can strike on Launceston debut

Trainer Trent Wells is confident a newcomer to his stable can produce the goods at her first Tasmanian run in Launceston on Friday night.

California Flyer, an Alpine Eagle mare, has been placed at four of her 10 Victorian starts and looks the one to beat in the 1200m maiden, the second race of the night.

“I haven’t had her for very long. A good friend of mine, Gavin Bedggood, sent her over. She has only been here for a fortnight. She’s in great order. He put it to the owners about the Tasbred scheme over here, and she’s Tasbred eligible, so it was a bit of a no-brainer in the end,” Wells said.

A Tasbred bonus earns the winner an extra $20,000 on top of the race prize money.

“She’s drawn well (barrier 1). Chloe (Wells) has ridden her a couple of times for slow-track work, but Gavin told me not to rub his polish off, so hopefully I haven’t done that.

“Gavin was best man at my wedding and gave one of the all-time worst best man speeches, so he owes me a little bit,” Wells said with a laugh.

At her last run, California Flyer was a close fifth at Caulfield over 1000m, beaten a little more than a length.

“She’s only little, but you would think drawn barrier one and the form that she is bringing over, she will be very hard to beat. She hasn’t missed a beat since she’s been here either, so hopefully it’s an easy kill.”

Also heading to the track from the Wells’ stable is It’s Jagger Time, who will tackle the 1200m class 4 after a freshen-up.

“He only had four weeks off. He trialled up really well at Longford, it wasn’t a very fast time, but they ran home their last 400m fairly nippy, and he’s come through that really well.

“There’s a nice race for him next week, and I was a little undecided about whether to save him for the class 3, but he does get in well with the weights, and I just thought a couple of the others might be on the way out while he’s fresh and ready to go at the moment.

“I’ve got 10 in work at the moment, but we are scaling up. We’ve got a few new clients, I’m lucky enough to have Di Parish and Daniel Ganderton, and Chloe is starting to ride some work for me, so things are looking good”.

Friday night, which will be telecast on Racing.com, kicks off a big weekend with racing in Hobart on Sunday featuring round two of the National Apprentice Race Series.