By Craig Kerry
Newcastle trainer Paul Perry at least knows conditions will suit when he tests in-form mudlark Cruel Summer at Randwick on Saturday.
Cruel Summer, a son of Perry’s pioneering sprinter Choisir, will step up to benchmark 78 grade in the 1400m ninth race after back-to-back midweek city wins on Heavy 8 going.
Cruel Summer winning a Midway handicap at Rosehill on March 30 last year.Credit: Getty Images
The six-year-old gelding came with an inside run and kicked strongly to win by a length and a half at Canterbury before leading all the way in a one and a quarter-length victory on the Kensington track on May 14.
Both wins were over 1250m at benchmark 72 level. Cruel Summer rises in class and distance on Saturday, but he will again get a heavy surface after persistent rain this week.
Randwick was rated a Heavy 10 and fit for racing on Friday after an inspection at 4pm. The forecast was for clearing skies on Saturday.
The heavy track brings Cruel Summer right into contention. Five of his seven career wins and four of his six placings have come on heavy tracks, which he has tackled 12 times.
“That’s his thing,” Perry said.
“The conditions suit him, but he is racing against a higher-class horse. It’s not a midweek.
“Some horses just like different tracks, it’s just the way it is. He’s just in that little purple patch of form now and the ground adds to it.”
Cruel Summer, into $18 with Sportsbet, was unplaced in five Sydney runs over the summer before given a freshen-up to chase wet tracks over the colder months. He has picked up city wins this time of the year over the past three seasons.
His sire, Choisir, raced almost exclusively on dry ground in a career which paved the way for Australian gallopers in England, after his wins in the King’s Stand and Golden Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot in 2003.
Perry bought Cruel Summer, out of Sebring mare Summer Song, for $50,000 at the Magic Millions sales in 2020, and he has earned $422,190. Choisir died the following year, making Cruel Summer one of the last of his progeny to join Perry’s stable.
“He was nothing like him,” Perry said of Cruel Summer as a Choisir yearling.
“He was just a nice horse, and he’s been good.”
Perry also has Cosy Corner ($34) racing at Randwick, in the last, a fillies and mares benchmark 78. She was a close third on a heavy Kensington track last start in a mares benchmark 72.
“She handles it and she’s probably a lightweight chance,” Perry said.
On Friday, Newcastle’s meeting on Saturday was rescheduled to Monday after the track received 108mls of rain in 24 hours.
In Queensland, Sydney jockey Nash Rawiller was confident Lindermann could bounce back from “an absolute forgive run” in the Hollindale Stakes to challenge in the group 1 Doomben Cup on Saturday.
Chris Waller-trained Lindermann, which has placed consistently behind Via Sistina this preparation, faded to finish ninth on a heavy Gold Coast track last start. Rawiller was backing him to return to his best on a better surface from gate three on Saturday. He was a $9 chance in the $1 million race.
“He’s never really let us down before,” Rawiller said.
“When I had hold of him before the corner, he was running a decent enough race but when I felt for him, he just lost all confidence on that horrible track.
“I’ve always had a big opinion of him. We won the Rosehill Guineas together and I always felt he could make the step-up to weight-for-age, and he’s run some tremendous races against our best.”
