By Ray Hickson
A few mental breaks have kept honest galloper New Republic in form as he enters the eighth month of his preparation and trainer Mark Minervini hopes he can achieve a second milestone in as many starts at Kensington on Wednesday.
The five-year-old was Minervini’s first winner on a Sydney track since the trainer moved from South Australia to Newcastle four years ago, when he scored at Canterbury last month.
Racing returns to the Kensington track on Wednesday.Credit: Getty
“They don’t give city races away up here,” Minervini said.
“When he loomed up I thought he was going to win easier than he did. It was good to get the win.
“I’ve never won a race at Randwick so hopefully we can change that.”
New Republic was nominated for last weekend’s Randwick meeting but Minervini elected to keep the gelding in Benchmark 72 grade in the Bivouac @ Darley Handicap (1800m).
He said while it will be New Republic’s 15th run for the preparation you could argue he’s never raced better and that’s due to a few short freshen ups between runs.
“He’s had two or three little breaks at Emeran Park, they do a good job and that horse in particular has thrived on that sort of training,” he said.
“Now that he’s fit I don’t do a lot with him, he has a dash up once a week but other than that we keep him fit with slow and steady work.
“He looks well-placed. He goes up in weight a little bit but his form is pretty solid, the last four or five runs he’s been pretty consistent and if he holds that form he’ll be around the mark.”
Recent Minervini acquisition Hosier will head to Coffs Harbour on Friday to defend his crown in the $150,000 Coffs Harbour Cup (1600m) and put himself in the Big Dance picture once again.
While he has a reputation as a wet tracker, a last start second to Barbie’s Fox in the Listed Winter Challenge (1500m) made a small lie of that impression.
“Gee I thought we were home there for a couple of strides but I thought he ran well and has taken good improvement out of it again,” he said.
