Latest News

By Ray Hickson

Rain on race day put a dampener on Nathan Doyle’s confidence with talented sprinter Kipsbay the last time he made the trip to Rosehill but the trainer says conditions appear much more in his favour on Saturday.

Trainer Nathan Doyle (Pic: Bradley Photos).

Doyle considered scratching Kipsbay from the April 29 assignment which was run on a heavy 9 after persistent rain and probably wishes he did after the gelding had a soft lead but could only manage fourth of five as a $2.80 chance.

If forecasters are correct he will have favourable ground for the Agency Real Estate Handicap (1200m) and Doyle says he has his chance to bounce back.

“He hasn’t shown us anything on wet tracks at home, the Capitalist breed like a nice firm deck so hopefully with the improved track on Saturday we see an improved performance,’’ he said.

“Kerrin (McEvoy) said coming out of the chute he was fine but once he got onto the course proper where it was all chopped up he just dipped and dived.

“I’d put a line through his most recent run, back in grade and with 1.5kg off for Dylan (Gibbons) he looks well in.”

Kipsbay, $4.60 second elect with TAB on Friday, was previously trained by Chris Waller and has won three from five for Doyle.

He opened his campaign with an easy Eagle Farm win in late March before finishing finish as a $2.40 chance behind boom Queenslander Antino and Doyle elected to give him five weeks to get over his last start given his busy schedule in the previous month.

Expect the four-year-old to look to lead and on dry ground be a lot harder to reel in.

“He’s a lot better horse when he can find the top and the front,’’ Doyle said.

“If he begins okay with them we’ll be happy to roll forward and see if we can lead. I’d like to think he’s a bit more than a benchmark 78 horse from what he showed in his first-up win.

“Whatever he does we’ll probably give him a bit of a freshen up and go again with him.

“He’s had two trips to Brisbane and a heavy track run, if he’s on his best behaviour it’s definitely a winnable race for him.”

Among his runners at Newcastle on Saturday, Doyle is excited to see if Overriding can back up her impressive fresh performance in the Palmieri Conveyancing Handicap (1250m).

The three-year-old has won both starts when first-up and the trainer said there was so much improvement to come out of her following a runaway win two weeks ago.

The outside barrier in an eight horse field represents cause for caution but Doyle said if Koby Jennings can find the right spot he expects her to go close.

“She’s a nice filly and I thought she was quite soft in her first-up run at Newcastle,’’ he said.

“She was only going in off one trial so she is going to derive some improvement

“If she gets even luck, a small field and a bad gate can be trickier than a big field and a bad gate, and gets into a nice spot I’d expect she will be very competitive again.”

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