Ray Hickson
It’s easy to make the case for a horse returning to racing that he’s getting ready to get ready, but trainer Mitch Beer says a horse like Mafia is different.
The front-runner has his third run from the break in the Kia North Dealer Of The Year Handicap (1250m) at Kensington today and Beer saw enough in his latest race to say he is aiming to fire.
Mafia returns to class after competing in two Benchmark 78 races, running fourth after leading at Canterbury three weeks ago, and Beer said a combination of balance and planning could work in his favor now.
“It’s difficult for those horses that are one-faced, jump and go forward and blow and you think ‘that’s disappointing’,” Beer said.
“You can jump him and jump him out until you’re blue in the face but he takes those athletics to come back to match the fitness of the day.
“He’s a great horse, he ran two or three times to beat the best for us in the final preparation.
“I thought in his last run he just felt tight 50m-100m from home so he could be seen.
“He goes back to that grade of 72, if he takes the improvement in length balance and the improvement in length from going back to that grade maybe that’s enough to get him over.”
The five-year-old was a winner at Canterbury in November in the same grade as his Kensington meet.
Beer, who trains alongside George Carpenter, plans to test Mafia’s distance standards in the near future and hopes it won’t take too long to find winning form again.
“I think he’s coming at a good time of the year,” he said.
“We really wanted to get him to 1400m this preparation, there is Midway 1400m in 10 days.
“He’s a talented horse but he’s probably a good Wednesday, Friday night to Midway horse.
“Last preparation he was beaten by a smart guy, Oui Oui Oui, at Midway and he was backed up a week later and I thought it was a very good run in Saturday’s grade.”
Best Bet: Race 3 (10) Alphard
Race 4 (1) Oso Spirited
Best Value: Race 2 (10) Birds of Peace.
Presented by Racing NSW
