Beer Doubles Down On Kosciuszko Contender After Trial Win
By Ray Hickson
Million dollar earner Redouble has been a different horse since he arrived at Mitchell Beer’s Albury stable earlier this year and he’s itching to find out what the gelding can produce if he gets the chance in the Kosciuszko.
Beer left Thursday’s Albury meeting, following an easy trial win by Redouble in his first outing for the stable, brimming and with the knowledge that he still has an ace up his sleeve to play in next month’s $1.3m Everest Day country feature.
Albury trainer Mitchell Beer (Pic: Bradley Photos)
“He’s such a blinker horse, that’s one thing I’ve learned about him since he came,’’ Beer said.
“He’s a completely different horse with blinkers and I left them off because it’s only a trial. Once he got in front he had a good look around so Jordy (Jordan Mallyon) just gave him a little dig at the 200m and gee his last 100m was just explosive.
“He pulled up awesome. I’ve trialled my fair share of horses here as Albury and I don’t think I’ve walked away as happy as that.”
Redouble was formerly trained by Bjorn Baker and Beer has ensured he’s allowed the seven-year-old plenty of time to just be a horse and revel in the country environment.
His form is well exposed, including a Listed placing behind Snitz at Randwick back in May, and boasts a close third to last year’s Everest placegetter Trekking in a Group 3 race.
“He came off running on soft tracks which he doesn’t like,’’ Beer said.
“He’s just a horse that’s been trained in town his whole life, I’ve just tried to give him the best country experience he can have.
“He barely comes inside, he spends a lot of time outside, he has the sun on his back. I’ve seen a massive change in the horse, he loves it, it’s something different for him.”
The 14 slot winners for the $1.3m race will be drawn on Wednesday (9 September), with sales of the $5 tickets closing on Monday night, and Beer is confident Redouble has done enough already to appeal without a recent official race start.
But he has two plans for how he would tackle The Kosciuszko and it’s dependant on the weather around in late September and early October.
“I’ve got no hesitation running the horse first-up, he’s a class horse and doesn’t have to prove himself going into the race,’’ he said.
“His first-up record when you go through it, he rarely runs out of the first three and in very decent races.
“The horse’s fitness is excellent, he’d trial again if we were going to go first-up.
“He’s a horse better on top of the ground, we have a contingency plan of running him a fortnight to three weeks out but if we are going to strike a soft track we will save him for the big dance.”
While Redouble is Beer’s major hope he’s giving his SERA Country Championships Qualifier winner Sky Call the chance to press her case at Randwick on Saturday.
The five-year-old mare, who runs as a $34 chance with TAB in the Schweppes Handicap (1100m), hasn’t raced since she finished ninth in the $500,000 Country Championships Final at Randwick in April and Beer said she’s a horse that needs a good track.
“Glen Boss said to me after the race ‘do you want me to break your heart or not’ and I said ‘why not it’s only a short trip home’,’’ Beer said.
“He said if it doesn’t rain she wins so she will need a good track.
“She’s going to get a dry enough track (on Saturday) but for her to be a Kosciuszko player she will need to perform well because I trained her to run a strong seven furlongs last time.
“Whether she’s come back as a real seven furlong horse or a miler is yet to be determined but this will give us a good guide on whether we are a player or not.”
Redouble is a $15 chance in TAB’s pre-noms Kosciuszko market with Sky Call at $51.
