By Ray Hickson
On the back of an impressive first-up win, a distance experiment is in the back of trainer Matthew Smith’s mind with consistent mare Sprout Wings this preparation.
The five-year-old has established herself as a solid middle distance performer in the past 12 months but is yet to be tried beyond 2100m in her 20 starts.
Trainer Matthew Smith.Credit: Getty
As she heads to Canterbury today for her second-up run in the TAB Handicap (1900m), Smith said he’d like to work her towards an attempt at a mile and a half in the coming months.
“I want to see if she will run 2400m, we’ve never tried her,” Smith said.
“She’ll go 1900m, then 2000m and maybe give her a shot at a 2400m.
“We haven’t locked anything in, she likes wet tracks so we’ll keep her around her for the time being and see what we can win with her.”
Sprout Wings started $17 when she scored first-up at Warwick Farm over a mile just over a month ago.
It was confirmation for Smith that she’d come back in good order given she’d never managed to win fresh in three previous attempts.
“She was really working well going into that race, she’s flying,” he said.
“I might have been a tad surprised she won but the way she was working she was going to run well.
“Her work has been spot-on since, she’ll run very well again.”
From barrier one, Smith said he expects Kathy O’Hara will make a bit of use of the favourable gate and position closer to the speed up in distance than she did at Warwick Farm, where she came with a sweeping run from the second half.
“She’ll roll forward from the gate, make sure you’re genuine to the first turn and be in the first four I would imagine,” he said.
“There’s not much between them, it’s a fairly even bunch of horses. She runs the 1900m, she’s in good form and she’ll be right in it.”
Smith produces a staying bred three-year-old called Prefer The Wink in the Paulele @ Darley Handicap (1250m) and is curious to see what the gelding can do on debut.
Supplied by Racing NSW
Full form and race replays available at racingnsw.com.au
