Stephen Marsh goes into Saturday’s Group 2 Foxbridge Plate (1200m) at Te Rapa confident he can spring an upset with El Vencedor and Jodelin Gal.
Neither of Marsh’s horses have found favour with online bookmakers, with El Vencedor ($15) and Jodelin Gal ($31) at big odds in a market headed by Dragon Leap and Skew Wiff.
With smart trackwork gallops in the past week, Marsh goes into the race with a fair degree of confidence.
El Vencedor and Jodelin Gal had their main leadup gallops last Saturday but Marsh was just as pleased with their trackwork at Cambridge on Wednesday morning.
“They worked great, especially through the line and they’ve pulled up perfectly,” he said.
“They are right on track for Saturday. Hopefully we’re running on a Slow 7 and if they can get runs to suit, they should be competitive.”
El Vencedor has won five of his 21 starts and was three times stakes-place last season.
“He went out on the back of a nice win at Hawke’s Bay and he’s come up really well,” Marsh said.
“We brought him back in at the end of May and we’ve given him a nice, slow buildup. He’s quite a big, robust boy.”
El Vencedor has trialled twice leading into the Foxbridge Plate, finishing second to last year’s winner and multiple Group One-winning sprinter Imperatriz over 900m at Te Rapa before a 4.75 length Avondale trial win last week.
“His two trials have been terrific. His last trial at Avondale he won very well on probably a track that wasn’t ideal for him,” Marsh said.
“His buildup has been perfect and we can’t fault the way he’s going into this race. We’ve always looked to kick him off in the Foxbridge before we go on to the first leg at Hawke’s Bay and we wanted him pretty ready to go, hence why we’ve given him the two trials.
“We gave him a good push out in the last trial and his work has been very good since and I think he’s forward enough for a good showing.
“It’s a nice field, a pretty even field, but I think he’s up to it. He’s always shown us a heap of ability but he’s taken a little bit to mature and his racing manners let him down a little early on but we saw enough from him in his last campaign to say he should be up to this.”
Swiss Ace seven-year-old mare Jodelin Gal goes into the Foxbridge with more race fitness on her side.
At her third run back at Te Rapa last start, she claimed her seventh win from 23 starts with a gritty performance.
“It was a really good win. She was down in the worst part of the track. She got back but she really attacked the line well to get up by a small margin,” Marsh said.
“Her form before that was good too. She showed when she ran second at Ruakaka two starts back that she was just starting to hit form again. She’s bounced through that last win and she’s a classy mare. The improved track should really suit her as well.”
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