By Ray Hickson
Trainer Anthony Cummings says a late dive at a berth in next month’s The Star Doncaster Mile is on the cards for talented galloper Something Fast if he can make a positive return and shrug off a setback at Rosehill on Saturday.
Something Fast was one of the rising stars in the summer with a pair of impressive all the way wins in December and Cummings put him away with a Doncaster mission in mind.
But the plan was to kick him off a bit sooner than what is now his first-up assignment, the Cerrone Handicap (1350m), and been he's forced into playing catch up.
“He was scheduled to run a couple of weeks ago and he got a kick coming off the track so we had to wait for that to sort itself out,’’ he said.
“We’re not exactly where we want to be but we are still here, and he’s going all right, and his work on Tuesday was really good.
“There’s little doubt he will improve with the run but he’s up to the task for Saturday.’’
Despite the blip in his preparation and just the one official trial in early February, Something Fast has been kept safe at $5.50 with TAB.
The five-year-old, a winner of five of his eight starts, commenced his summer prep with a close second over 1100m at Rosehill and Cummings said he’d be more than happy with a similar result or better to head into the Group 3 Doncaster Prelude (1500m) in two weeks.
“He’s going to get a nice run through and I think he is bound to be competitive,’’ he said.
“Hopefully he can force his way in by going to the Doncaster Prelude.”
Something Fast has just 50kg in the Doncaster Mile, as does stablemate Vegadaze who will be trying to secure his spot in the $3m feature via Saturday’s Group 2 $200,000 Hyland Race Colours Ajax Stakes (1500m).
Cummings said Vegadaze is more than capable of turning the tables on Quackerjack from their clash in the Liverpool City Cup (1300m) two weeks ago given that something unusual happened to the horse in that race.
“He probably beat himself last time, he wanted to lay out into the other horse and Jean (Van Overmeire) got himself a bit tangled up trying to straighten up,’’ he said.
“There’s a way for him to improve on what he did there and there’s normal improvement from run to run so he should be around the mark.’’
Two-year-old filly Philizzy will take her place in Saturday week’s Longines Golden Slipper if she wins the Group 3 $175,000 Antler Luggage Magic Night Stakes (1200m).
Cummings said she has recovered well from a virus that held her back since her last start third in the Widden Stakes behind Away Game on February 1.
Something Fast wins at Randwick on December 28
“She galloped well on Tuesday and she goes into the trace in good shape,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, Cummings said Golden Eagle placegetter Mizzy is likely to take her place in the Group 1 Galaxy (1100m) next Saturday after trialling at Randwick on Thursday.
And there’s a chance Libertini could join her in that race.
“I thought Mizzy might have done a little bit more in the last furlong but all in all I think it was okay. We’ll see how she pulls up but she’s still on track for next week,’’ he said.
“The Galaxy is an option for Libertini, we’ll have a chat with Gerry (Harvey) to see what he wants to do. She galloped strongly on Thursday and seemed to pull up fine so we’ll look at that and other options for the coming weeks.’’
All the fields, form and replays for Saturday's Rosehill Gardens meeting