Ken and Kasey Keys set sights on Standish Handicap

Father and daughter training partners Ken and Kasey Keys head to Flemington in the hope of producing a couple of contenders for a feature sprint early in the New Year.

The Group 3 Standish Handicap (1200m) at Flemington on January 15 has been pencilled in for both Free To Move and Winsum.

Free To Move is having his first run back from a break in the Furphy Festive Season Sprint (1200m) on Saturday with Winsum contesting the G H Mumm Christmas Plate (1000m).

“We’ll get more of an idea after Saturday about both of them and work out which way we can go from there,” Kasey Keys said.

Free To Move is no stranger to success on the straight Flemington course while Winsum will tackle the tricky circuit for the first time.

Last time seen at Flemington, Free To Move took out the Listed Creswick Stakes (1200m) at $101 and has not raced since finishing last in the Listed Regal Roller Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield in August.

“He’s trialled up nicely and we’re happy with where he’s at, but it will be interesting to see if he is up to that grade and how he’s come back,” Keys said.

“I’m sure he’d be fine on the softer tracks, but we want to see how he performs in this level on the harder surfaces.”

Winsum will be second-up following a victory at Pakenham over 1000m on December 4.

Keys said Winsum had been a labour of love after showing ability from day one which resulted in the son of Wandjina kicking off his career in a Blue Diamond Prelude as a two-year-old.

Finally, the now four-year-old is beginning to live up to his potential having won three of his eight starts.

“The main thing was he needed to mature and grow into himself as he had always shown ability, but his brain wasn’t quite ready for it all,” Keys said.

“The plan is to keep him to shorter courses this time in, keep him fresh, that seems to suit him.”

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