Trainer Nathan Doyle won’t let the fact Norwegian Bliss boasts an unbeaten record after six starts get in the way of planning the best path for the mare this season.
The five-year-old makes her long-awaited return in the Cleanaway Handicap (1200m) at Randwick on Tuesday after a bleed at trackwork cut her autumn campaign short.
Norwegian Bliss is unbeaten in six starts.Credit:Getty
While she managed to win both starts in that prep, both at Hawkesbury in April, Doyle said her build-up to this return had been ominously smoother.
“She’s trialled up well, I think she’s trialled up better than leading into last preparation which is probably a good sign,” he said. “When she was in last preparation, she was seven weeks from her first trial to a start.
“This time in, we’ve dodged wet tracks with trials and kept her on that better ground. If we just place her right and not start her on heavy tracks, we shouldn’t have an issue going forward and – hopefully – we see the best of her.”
Doyle has built Norwegian Bliss’ unbeaten record by placing her expertly as she rose through the grades. He said the mare was on her way to stakes company. When that comes remains to be seen, and he’s not overly concerned if she’s beaten on the way to that goal.
Andrew Adkins has partnered the mare in two of her six wins and both barrier trials this time in but Doyle elected to use Dylan Gibbons and his 2kg claim to offset 61.5kg.
“They’re all probably going to get beaten one day,” he said. “We still know we’ve got a nice horse and a stakes-class horse but when you’re unbeaten they’re all out there trying to beat you.
“It looks a nice kick-off race. We wanted a 1200m run first-up for her. We had to claim and get in with a respectable weight first-up.”
The question was posed that if Norwegian Bliss can make it seven from seven, whether she’d tackle the $1m The Hunter (1300m) on her home track on November 12.
“It’s always a little carrot dangling there when you’re in your own backyard,” he said. “The natural progression would be to go to a fillies and mares stakes race, that’d be the ideal step, but we’ll get over this first.”
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