By Brad Gray
Peter Robl has made a seamless transition from riding to training and after already being appointed head trainer of Segenhoe, the Randwick-based horseman now has the support of OTI Racing with Count Of Limonade joining his team.
“This is the first one they have sent me so hopefully I can kick a goal with him and then you never know what happens in the future,” Robl said.
“They sent him up here to find wet tracks for him during the winter as all of his best form has been on soft and heavy going.
“His trials have been fair albeit on firm tracks. He’ll certainly be improved from the run on Saturday but he works well, albeit a bit dour.”
Count Of Limonade's latest trial - Warwick Farm, May 15
The seven-year-old, who has been gelded ahead of this campaign, has been under the care of plenty of different trainers throughout his 25-start career, the latest being Darren Weir who saw him win the Avoca Cup at his most recent run.
“He races on speed, which he won’t do on Saturday, but when I spoke to Terry Henderson about him I said if we can get a couple of runs into him a race at Canterbury would then probably suit him –1900m on a heavy track where he can roll along in front. We’ll just try to pick off one or two of those sort of races.”
Our Boy Nicholas will line up against his stablemate in the TAB Rewards Handicap (1500m) and Robl expects the son of More Than Ready to also need the outing.
“He’ll need a few runs to get him up to speed and then we’ll just pick off a couple of nice races for him,” Robl said.
“These sort of horses get to a stage and are hard to place. If he runs a couple of good races though he is the type of horse that we’d look at the Dubbo Cup and Orange Cup with.”
Evergreen stayer Iggi Pop rounds out Robl’s Rosehill team and he expects the eight-year-old to start showing his wares now after two runs back.
“He doesn’t want any more rain but he is third-up and ready to run a much improved race. He’ll more than likely sneak up to the Grafton Cup. It would be an ideal race and he’d get firmer footing.”
“He is going well. He should race in the first four or five on Saturday.”
Meanwhile, trial watchers will have noted that Centre Pivot looks to have found zest for racing again with Robl confident of being on top of the six-year-old’s ongoing feet issues.
“He is going the best he has gone since I’ve had him. He has certainly shown a nice turn of foot in his trials and his work has been really good,” Robl said.
“The race I had picked out for him was the June Stakes last week but he missed the run because of the heavy track. He may have a canter around in the Winter Dash (1200m) next Saturday providing the track isn’t too bad.
“He’ll be hard to place for the next month or two simply because he doesn’t like the wet.”
Check out the fields, form and replays for Rosehill on Saturday