2021 Group 1 TAB Australian Cup runner-up Fernando Bluey will be the cynosure of all eyes as he returns from a brief retirement.
Fernando Bluey (Box 8), which is now in Lyn Smith’s Nambrok kennel, lines up in a Free For All (400m) – Race 10, 9.45pm – tonight at Warragul.
He’s four from five over 400m at Logan Park, with a smart 22.31sec PB, and is undefeated in two starts from the ‘pink’ alley. TAB has him quoted as a short-priced $1.35 fixed odds favourite.
However, Lyn intimated punters should tread warily, as Fernando Bluey’s “fitness levels aren’t as high as they could be”.
“He was transferred to me in early February, and I’ve taken him along slowly,” she added.
“He’s only had one Warragul 400-metre trial. His first split (8.25sec) was good into a massive headwind and he was only two lengths off the best of the day, running 22.60sec.
“He’ll be suited in box eight – particularly with his kennelmate Throw Caution (Box 7) on his inside, as he ‘crashes hard left’.
“But it’s been raining solid here for two days, so it’s difficult to know what to expect.”
Raced by the Hunter Racing syndicate, Fernando Bluey (May ’18 Fernando Bale x Naughty Cazza) hasn’t raced since finishing third, beaten 0.81L, to retired megastar Aston Rupee in a G1 Melbourne Cup heat on November 19 last year.
He’s won 23 races (with eight seconds and five thirds) from 44 starts and $192,405 in prizemoney.
Fernando Bluey was formerly prepared by Pearcedale teenage prodigy Kayla Cottrell, who celebrates her 20th birthday tomorrow.
Under Kayla’s guidance, Fernando Bluey went within an agonising 0.06L of winning last year’s Australian Cup when defeated by WA wonder Tommy Shelby.
Last year, he was also a G1 Harrison-Dawson finalist and a G1 Golden Easter Egg semi-finalist.
Kayla also took his litter sister, Fernando Cazz, to first in last year’s G1 Rookie Rebel and second in the G1 Association Cup for the Hunter Racing syndicate, which is managed by 77-year-old staircase builder Alan Hunter.
Pawnote: The GRV Vic Bred ‘Road To The Diamond’ series also kicks off with four heats on the program.
WATCH: FERNANDO BLUEY (6) fails by a ‘whisker’ to hold off WA wunderkind TOMMY SHELBY (4) in last year’s G1 Australian Cup at The Meadows.
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