Tom Dabernig is excited about getting Oliveanotherday back to Caulfield for this Sunday’s Manikato Stakes, but the Warrnambool trainer admits to one existing niggle ahead of his Group 1 debut.
The four-year-old heads into the $2 million event off the worst finish of his career – a fifth placing in the Group 2 Bobbie Lewis Quality at Flemington on September 12 – when his first look at the straight was identified as the main reason for the defeat.
But Dabernig said another factor could have been at play, which Oliveanotherday might have to again deal with ahead of this weekend’s 1200-metre weight-for-age contest.
“I think it was just a case of straight first time and Good 3 track,” Dabernig said.
“I’m not totally blaming the Good 3, but I’m sure that he’s best runs for me have been on softer going.
“He’s been very good here at Caulfield, so I’m just hoping that back at Caulfield he’ll accelerate off the bend and third-up be better than he was second-up.
“He was only beaten 1.6 lengths and the winner came from the inside, the horses in the centre didn’t figure too much, so it might have been a combination of things.
“But, I must admit, a Good 3 track would be my concern.”
Oliveanotherday has won six of his nine starts, two of them on Good 4 tracks, but the Bobbie Lewis Quality was his first start on a Good 3.
Caulfield, where Oliveanotherday has won twice on the main track and also once on the Heath track, was upgraded to a Good 3 during last Saturday’s meeting and Dabernig would love for the predictions of a shower or two on Saturday to come true after warm days Thursday and Friday.
Although disappointed Oliveanotherday’s five-race winning streak ended at Flemington, Dabernig hopes the outing against hardened older sprinters will benefit him before taking on established Group 1 performers including Beiwacht, Jimmysstar and Giga Kick this weekend.
“The winner of that race has win six times down the straight and they’re all six and seven-year-olds and we’re only a four-year-old and only lightly-raced,” Dabernig said.
“So, we were inexperienced and there were all those other factors there, so when you reflect on it all, there were probably reasons (for the result).”
The field for the Manikato Stakes will be finalised on Wednesday morning, along with the meeting’s other events, including the Pride Of Jenni’s quest for a third-straight win in the Group 2 Feehan Stakes.
