Shane Nichols is often bemused when he looks at the price of his stable star Streets Of Avalon and bookmakers again have him shaking his head over their Futurity Stakes assessments.
“Tell me in what other year would you find the winner of the Australia Stakes and the Orr Stakes at $12 in the Futurity Stakes? It seems over the odds to me as I think he’s a great each-way chance,” Nichols said.
Behemoth is a $3.20 favourite with TAB fixed odds, ahead of Probabeel who is a $3.50 chance to win the Group One 1400 metre event at Caulfield on Saturday.
Streets Of Avalon is also the reigning Futurity Stakes winner.
“He’s in great form. He loves the Caulfield 1400 metres and he hasn’t gone backwards since his Orr Stakes win,” Nichols said.
The Orr Stakes produced a typical Streets Of Avalon victory with the horse showing his usual pace and fighting traits to hold off a strong challenge from Imaging.
“I was as confident as I’ve ever been going into the Orr Stakes and he’s in the same shape to replicate that success. He’s capable of doing it. He hasn’t gone backwards,” Nichols said.
Nichols said Zac Spain would employ his usual roll-forward tactics aboard Streets Of Avalon.
“If we’re in it, it’s not going to be a sit-and-sprint race,” Nichols said.
“He’ll go forward and settle either in the lead or close to it and there will be a fast speed, without going silly, in the early stages.”
Last year Streets Of Avalon dominated the Futurity Stakes from the outset and recorded a time of 1:21.09 minutes for the 1400 metres.
Nichols said although Streets Of Avalon was not nominated for the All-Star Mile he would run in it if he was successful on Saturday as the Futurity winner gets a golden ticket into the race.
“The way that race is setting up it’s going to be a lot of horses who like to sit and sprint and we would have an advantage going forward,” Nichols said.
“The one track I’d like to run him over 1600 metres at is Moonee Valley and there’s not too many $5 million races on the calendar.”
