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By Ray Hickson

Trainer Robert Price hopes the rain around Rosehill this week doesn’t get in the way of Cuban Royale continuing his renaissance in the Furphy Handicap (1400m) where the eight-year-old eyes his first career hat-trick.

Trainer Robert Price (Pic: Bradley Photos)

It had been over four years since Cuban Royale last posted back-to-back wins until he knocked over Benchmark 78 races at Kembla Grange’s The Gong meeting and last weekend at Randwick.

Price, who co-trains with son Luke, said with a bit of luck he sees no reason why the gelding can’t keep up to the good work despite not tackling Benchmark 88 level since July 2020.

“He’s certainly come back well, the last couple of preps he’s come back just as good but just hasn’t had a lot of luck,’’ he said.

“He needs room to wind up, if he gets caught in behind traffic it nullifies him pretty easily. We’ve been able to have those runs where he’s got to the outside and he launches.

“These days he just wants to find his feet, you can have to niggle him along to keep in contact but in saying that it hasn’t hurt his chances in the last two starts that’s for sure.

“My feeling is he’s going to be ultra competitive again this weekend. Unless we get a whole pile of rain as he’s much more effective on a dry track.”

Rosehill was rated soft 7 on Thursday and it’s likely Cuban Royale, $6 with TAB on Thursday, will face something in the soft range.

Four of his nine wins have come on soft and heavy tracks so he’s not right out of his comfort zone but as Price said his turn of foot is more effective on top of the ground.

That was on show last Saturday when he clocked 33.79 (Punter's Intelligence) for his last 600m to score over 1300m and Pride said 1400m holds no fears, neither does the quick turnaround.

“We like to race him fresh but we’re guided by the programming, he’s a much better horse fresh but he will back up no doubt about him,’’ he said.

“We could save him for the Carrington but that’s just jumping a grade or two, this is a good race for him.

“We’re really happy with the way he’s going, Brock (Ryan) rode him Wednesday morning and Luke rode him Tuesday morning and they both gave him the thumbs up.”

Stablemate Noble Soldier won’t be out of place if the track stays rain affected and Price is expecting a considerable improvement on his first-up run behind I Am Me and Dehorned Unicorn three weeks ago.

Dylan Gibbons rides the gelding in the Fujitsu General Handicap (1200m) with the Price team eying likely a Benchmark 78 for him next time around.

But he said Noble Soldier’s form last time in, where he won three races including two Midways, shows he’s a consistent type who will be competitive with a handier draw and a run under his belt.

Cuban Royale wins at Randwick on December 31

“His run was okay, he’ll be better placed next time we go around but he could be not badly placed this weekend,’’ he said.

“He’s a good horse to have in the stable. He just doesn’t like to be close to the fence, he needs a bit of elbow room.

“The day Hugh won on him (in August), I didn’t think he was that good, it was a good performance sitting three or four deep the trip and he was outstanding.

“He’s coming up well but he’s at that level now where we have to place him well.”

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