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By Ray Hickson

Jockey Jim Byrne is confident the ‘real’ Apache Chase will turn up in Saturday’s $1 million The Hunter (1300m) at Newcastle.

Jockey Jim Byrne (Pic: Grant Guy)

It’s not just because the Group 1 winner finally strikes a good surface but Byrne feels the gelding has been suffering from claustrophobia in the stalls since he was kicked in a barrier incident prior to the running of the Stradbroke Handicap earlier this year.

Apache Chase hasn’t been disgraced in his two Sydney spring runs, the Premiere and the Sydney Stakes, on wet tracks and Byrne said given the conditions and the work trainer Desleigh Forster has put into his barrier stall confidence he should show his true form.

“He gets a bit claustrophobic, he’s been slow away at his last two starts and even in his trial. We’ve gone back to the drawing board with him,’’ he said.

“We’ve added a few things and gave him a jump out the other day and he was out like a bullet. He was the horse of old so we’re fingers crossed that everything goes well for him.

“He was always first horse out, his last two starts he’s been slow away. You can’t be slow away, you’ve got to be putting yourself in a position straight away. We think we’ve solved it, and if we have he’ll give us a great sight.

“He’s just not at home on those shifting surfaces. He performs but he’s not at his best.

“I’m pleased with the forecast and the way the horse is.”

The five-year-old was beaten under two lengths by Lost And Running in the Group 2 Premiere Stakes (1200m) first-up and a similar margin when ninth in the Group 3 Sydney Stakes (1200m) a month ago.

Byrne said there was plenty of merit in that last start performance given he wasn’t able to ride the horse to his strengths.

"He’s a high cruising horse. In the Sydney Stakes he was slow away again and In The Congo crossed him pretty softly,’’ he said.

“It was one of those races where I didn’t want to fire him up.”

Apache Chase, $7.00 with TAB on Thursday, has drawn a middle to outside barrier in The Hunter and Byrne said that suits his style.

He expects it will allow the horse time to gather momentum and work into a forward position as he did when holding off Paulele to win the Group 1 Kingsford-Smith Cup (1300m) earlier this year.

“Drawing awkward is great for him because it means even if he is slow away he can generate that speed and put himself right on the bunny,’’ Byrne said.

“To race the way he likes to race and that’s the most important part. You’re pushing the button from the 600m and saying we’re going to make these horses run good sections to beat him.

“That’s how he wins his races. You can’t go flat out from start to finish, you’ve got to give them a breather at some point so you’re mindful of that.

“But you’re also mindful of the sort of horse he is and how he wins his races, you don’t want to be going too slow.

“That’s what makes him really exciting. When he is able to run those sections he’s one of those horses you like to follow because you know he won’t lay down.”

Byrne will also partner stablemate Couldn’t Refuse in his interstate debut in the Alf Kneebone Trans-Tasman Trophy (1850m) and warns he shouldn’t be underestimated.

Apache Chase's last start in the Sydney Stakes

The six-year-old has had 37 starts, all in Queensland, and has won three of his last seven. He finished third in a 1600m Benchmark 85 at Eagle Farm two weeks ago and drops 3kg.

“He’s probably racing in the best form of his career,’’ Byrne said.

“He had a month between runs last start and he was unlucky that I had to concede too much ground early.

“I cut the corner and thought he was going to make a winning run and he kind of hit the wall around about the furlong or 100m out.

“I think he's been looking for the 1800m so fingers crossed. You can ride him forward but ultimately you like to get him into a rhythm and show that turn of foot.”

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday's Newcastle meeting