Colonel Parker Due for a Change of Luck
- Friday, 28 August 2009 00:00
Colonel Parker will be aiming to crack his first interstate win this Saturday when he lines up in the $100,000 Clamms Seafood Stakes and trainer Bill Ryan thinks he has earned it.
"This will be his eighth start in Victoria and he has won prize money on four occasions, but he could easily have won a couple of times", said Ryan after the horse's final workout this week.
"His work has been lovely, just a few 600m sprint ups this week which have topped him off nicely for Saturday's race".
Ryan believed the star Tasmanian gelding's chances were only improved with some of the fancied runners drawing off the track.
"Let Go Thommo and Bel Mer have both drawn wide which should give us a slight advantage", said Ryan, who has drawn barrier seven for the 1100m event.
Beaten by the narrowest of margins at his first run back after almost nine months off following a back injury, Ryan is expecting Colonel Parker to show a great deal of improvement.
"To say he needed that run would be an understatement. I was hoping to race him in Tasmania prior to coming over but circumstances beyond my control meant that wasn't a possibility, in the end I had to throw him in the deep end".
"He hasn't let me down yet", quipped Ryan, referring to the gelding's 41% winning strike rate.
So in what looks a very strong race for the Tasmanian visitor, Ryan is quietly confident that everything is falling into place for the lightly raced seven year old.
"He is right, the barrier is right, the form looks good, now we just need to cross our fingers".
