By Ray Hickson
Trainer Mitchell Beer has no problem with his horses being underestimated.
The 29-year-old Victorian trainer has had a team based at Albury during the winter and sends Dreams Of Paris to Randwick for the Everest Carnival On Sale Now handicap (1800m) on Saturday confident she can hit a target he set early in the preparation.
To Beer’s surprise the five-year-old opened $15 with TAB, despite an eye-catching last start second at Canterbury, and was $13 on Thursday.
“It’s something we don’t mind. It’s good being a smaller trainer, you get to go under the radar a little bit,’’ Beer said.
“This was the race I found for her and then worked back. I used the Canterbury run as the lead up.
Love being a small trainer, they’ve just put Dreams Of Paris up @ $15 on Saturday.
🐎💨— mitchellbeer (@beermitchell) August 1, 2018
“I would be very disappointed if she didn’t run in the money.’’
Dreams Of Paris hasn’t been tested beyond a mile since arriving from New Zealand but Beer said she’s learned to relax in her races and her pedigree - she's a half-sister to 2016 Brisbane Cup winner Benzini - suggests she will be fine.
The Canterbury second placing was at 1550m and it was on a day where making ground wasn’t easy.
Punters Intel shows the mare’s last 200m of 11.94 was the second quickest of the race and Beer said Saturday’s race sets up nicely for her.
“It took us a lot of work and effort to get her to settle in the run,’’ he said.
“I thought her last start was fantastic, three back the fence at Canterbury with a wall of horses around her if she was ever going to pull it was then.
“It was hard to make ground there which I was cursing after her run but was more than happy to take the way the track was playing when (stablemate) Gwenneth won.
“I thought they are a very even bunch and her biggest favour is the barrier. I think when you get those restricted mares you could run the race five times over and get five different winners.
“It comes down to the sort of run they get in the race and how it maps she should get one of the better runs.’’
Jockey Nikita Beriman made the trip to Albury on Wednesday to put Dreams Of Paris through her paces in a course proper gallop and was suitably impressed (see above).
Beriman has had one race ride on the mare for a win at Caulfield in February.
Beer said the Albury stable was initially planned to be a short-term venture but he’s looking to make it a more permanent arm of his Mornington base.
“It’s had great success and it gives us a great option with our horses,’’ he said.
He has three runners accepted for Sunday’s meeting at Gundagai and with prizemoney increases coming into effect from September 1 it makes a base on the NSW border attractive.
All the fields, form and replays for Saturday's Missile Stakes meeting at Royal Randwick