Trainer Peter Moody fears weights and measures may be against Gimme Par when runs in a stakes race at Flemington against two progressive three-year-olds.
The Listed A R Creswick Stakes (1200m) on Saturday has brought together a smart bunch of gallopers who are looking to round out the season and obtain ‘black type’.
It worked for Nature Strip in 2018 and a year later with Gytrash who have both gone on the win at Group 1 level while Front Page, in 2020, has proven no slouch either.
A relation to champion Black Caviar, Gimme Par enters Saturday’s race as the highest-rated runner.
A Group 3 winner last spring, Gimme Par has not been able to win again, her most recent outing being a third in the Group 3 Proud Miss Stakes (1200m) at Morphettville last month.
“Star Patrol and Passive Aggressive are in there and maybe they’ll worry about each other, and we might be the forgotten one,” Moody said.
“She’s the highest rated horse in the field and has paid the penalty for her stakes win early on, but she’s going well and is there to run well on Saturday.
“I haven’t done a lot with her as she had the trip across to Adelaide, but she came through it well, had a week down the beach after it and we’ve just poked around at home.”
Moody said the Creswick Stakes developed young horses as has been shown with the wins of Nature Strip and Gytrash in recent years.
He was a proud Australian to see Nature Strip win the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot on Tuesday night, 10 years after Black Caviar won at the Royal meeting.
“Who knows, maybe the winner on Saturday could end up on the world stage,” Moody said.
“Nature Strip won this race as a three-year-old and we saw what he did on Tuesday night.
“It was a great job by Chris (Waller) and all the team. Congratulations to them.”