Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr weren’t entirely convinced that Sabaj should continue on past the Cranbourne Cup, but the way the gelding bounced through that performance has persuaded them to continue his preparation.
The stable star is now set to contest this Saturday’s $2 million Group 2 The Ingham at Randwick, a 1600-metre assignment that comes three weeks after his spectacular triumph in the $500,000 Cranbourne Cup (1600m).
Kent said the decision to keep racing was only made after the gelding showed he had coped exceptionally well with his track-record victory.
“To be honest, immediately post-race we were in two minds whether to push on or not, but the following morning Mick (Price) was in the stable and he was delighted with what he saw,” Kent said.
“The horse ate very well overnight, he wasn’t too tucked up and whilst he ran a track record, we think the horse coped really well with the run.
“There was no travelling involved being at Cranbourne, that probably helped a bit, and for a lighter-framed horse he looks good in the body.
“He had a week out at my farm, at Kingshaven, where he had some time on the grass, we did some dressage work with him just to put some condition back on…I think he’s in the zone, he feels great.”
Sabaj is one of 28 horses nominated for The Ingham, with notable rivals such as Gringotts, Duke De Sessa, Robusto, Loch Eagle and fellow emerging miler Yorkshire also among the entries.
He completed a Sydney-way gallop at Cranbourne on Saturday and will repeat that again on Tuesday before beginning the trip north on Wednesday.
Price and Kent have implemented a new travel plan after a previous runner became ill, and Sabaj will break the journey at Nagambie for several hours of rest before continuing on to Sydney.
“We used to go right the way through but we had one horse get sick so we’ve changed our system and now we break the trip up,” Kent said.
“If you go in the middle of the day you miss all the traffic, (he’ll be) head down in a green grass paddock for five hours then it’s seven hours to Rosehill from Nagambie.”
Sabaj already has experience travelling to Sydney, having run a luckless sixth in the Silver Eagle first-up for the stable before going on to win at Flemington and in the Cranbourne Cup.
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