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By Ray Hickson

Trainer Lyle Chandler hopes his decision to forgo a second shot at the Newhaven Park Country Championships with consistent galloper Banju is again vindicated at Rosehill on Saturday.

Trainer Lyle Chandler (Pic: Steve Hart)

When the now six-year-old made it back-to-back TAB Highway wins at the corresponding Rosehill meeting last year he elected to freshen up and tackle the Country Championships and Banju was unlucky not to make the final after finishing third in both his regional race at Tamworth and Wild Card at Scone.

Chandler had an open mind about a second chance going into this preparation but when Banju reached his 20th start and hadn’t won one of his two 1400m runs in the campaign he decided going up in distance was the way to go.

And it paid off as Banju led all the way over the Randwick mile two weeks ago.

“If he won well the last time Amy McLucas rode him (Randwick on December 10), I would have said to the owners to put him away for the Country Championships,’’ he said.

“I had a strong suspicion the mile would suit him.

“I was stuck last preparation at 1400m because we were competing in the Championships. In some ways he was a bit tired because he was at the tail end of his preparation, but he’d won two Highways so it was the logical step.”

Banju, $6 with TAB on Wednesday, returns to the track and distance of that second Highway win in 2022 when he tackles the TAB Handicap (1500m) and Chandler is quietly confident, despite a rise in weight, he can produce a trademark fighting performance.

It wasn’t the Scone trainer’s intention to lead at Randwick and while it was effective on the day he said leading isn’t vital to the gelding’s chances.

“We got up a lot in weight but we have a very experienced pilot on board,’’ he said.

“I think he carries weight quite well and he’s in a good space.

“We thought on the speed map the other day we’d probably end up leading and my only recommendation to Reece (Jones), I’d been watching the races on the day and no-one had been leading and winning, was not to make him a chopping block and have everyone run over the top of you.

“I often see the readings on his heart monitor at trackwork and he has a ticker I haven’t seen in a long time. Everything looks encouraging for him to be a mile, mile plus horse.

“I remember his second Highway when he had blinkers on, he was in front and he looked beat and the eventual winner came up to him and he found again and rallied.

“He is a horse that loves to compete so I wouldn’t write him off if he had something to chase.”

Chandler is throwing unraced filly Charge By The Hour into what could be a strong two-year-old event in the Ned Australian Whisky Handicap (1100m) but he’s sure the youngster has something.

The daughter of Charge Forward, owned by a group of Hunter Valley stud workers, has only trialled once and it was enough for Chandler to kick her off in town.

“She was caught three wide but showed she was up to the task,’’ he said.

Banju wins at Randwick on December 31

“I think she will really appreciate the 1100m, she’s out of a Zabeel mare, and I said to the owners I’d rather take her to 1100m than a 900m in the bush.

“She’s not a jump and run leading horse but a ‘knuckle down when the pressure’s on and find’ type.”

The market doesn’t expect Charge By The Hour to be competitive, she opened $41 with TAB, but Chandler said she works well with older horses at home and is the style of horse that will relish a competitive race.

“It reminds me of when I worked for David Vandyke and we had Yankee Rose,’’ he said.

“This filly is of a similar shape, she’s quite a long filly and covers a lot of ground and is a run on filly. If there’s a lot of speed and she can run on I think she will come into her own.”

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