www.ntnews.com.au Monday, January 6, 2014. NT NEWS. 33

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Double act: Pepper’s hot tips

LOCAL trainer Luke Pepper is brimmingwithconfidence his two starters in today’s Narooma Cupare right at their peak but when it came to the stableelect, he plays a diplomatic straight bat. ‘‘Both horseshave been specifically set for the 1650metres of therace. Both have gone on since their last run andthey’re both at their peak. The Conqueror probablyhasmore quality but the old bloke (Quichang), whathe lacks in ability makes up for in heart,’’ Pepper said.

Hopes rest onAbbey’smaggots

MAGGOT therapy is helping St Nicholas Abbey get thebetter of the life-threatening disease laminitis. TomO’Brien, the surgeon at Ireland’s Fethard EquineHospital, said the Coolmore stallionwas showingsigns of recovery. The Racing Post reported the six-time Group Onewinner’s improvement had beenmarked since the introduction ofmaggots. ‘‘We usedmaggot therapy, sowe gotmedical grademaggotsand enclosed them in the foot cast,’’ O’Brien said.

Athos trainermerry-go-round

MELBOURNE Cup placegetter Mount Athos has beenswitched from trainer Luca Cumani to Marco Bottiwhowill prepare him for the upcoming Dubai carnival.Mount Athoswas originally trained by DavidWachman in Ireland and joined Cumani in 2012. Hefinished an unlucky fifth in the 2012Melbourne Cupand third last year. His last race for Cumani was hisninth in the Hong Kong Vase in December. Botti’sJakkalberry ran third in the 2012Melbourne Cup.

Frenchforceready forAussieaccountCHRIS Waller saw enoughin Brigantin’s first startfor the stable to be optimis-tic the former Frenchhorse can be a force in theGosford Cup.

The seven-year-oldmade an eye-catching runfor fifth after being block-ed for a run late in a 1550mrace at Canterbury on Dec-ember 28, won by risingstar Messene.

He steps up to 2100m inFriday’s Listed event athis second start off a nine-week break after a springcampaign under Victoriantrainer Pat Carey.

‘‘He ran really well first-up,’’ Waller said.

‘‘The 1550m race was apipe-opener,’’ he said.

‘‘He came to us prettyforward from Pat Carey sofitness is not a concern. Ithink he can go well.’’

Waller will also haveSummer Cup winner I’mImposing in the Gosfordfeature.

I’m Imposing was off thetrack for almost two yearswith injury and his win inthe Listed 2000m BoxingDay feature at Randwickwas his first in sevenstarts for Waller.

Formerly trained inEngland by Sir MichaelStoute, I’m Imposingjoined the Lloyd Williamsteam in 2010.

Brigantin remained inAustralia after he failed tomake the 2012 MelbourneCup field when third in theGeelong Cup.

Andre Fabre trainedBrigantin for Team ValorInternational in France,where he won five races,including the 2011 Group 2Vigier Stakes, in which heedged out Dunaden, whowon the Melbourne Cup afew months later.

A pastern injury afterthe Geelong Cup keptBrigantin off the scenefor almost a year and hewas unplaced in a four-start spring campaign inVictoria.

Brigantin is raced byTeam Valor International,which has its head-quarters in Kentucky andbuys horses to race in theUS and internationally.

Last year they sold amajority share in DubaiWorld Cup-winner AnimalKingdom to John Mes-sara’s Arrowfield Stud.

Sheikh Mohammed’sDarley bought into AnimalKingdom and he will standthe northern hemisphereseason at his JonabellFarm in Kentucky.

Tony Vasil aims to get Prince Harada’s winning ways back on track as the trainer pursues the Australian Guineas Picture: GETTY IMAGES

Vasil faith in MagicBowler Gold Coast-bound, Harada builds for GuineasHORSE RACING

TONY Vasil has mapped outstable star Prince Harada’spath to the Group 1 Austral-ian Guineas but a more im-mediate focus for the traineris a $1 million target forstablemate The Bowler.

Vasil is aiming PrinceHarada at the $500,000 Aust-ralian Guineas (1600m) third-up on March 1 at Flemingtonahead of a Sydney campaign.

The Bowler, meanwhile, is

being readied for Saturday’s$1 million Magic MillionsGuineas (1400m) at the GoldCoast and is due to leave Mel-bourne by float tonight pro-viding he makes the finalfield as Vasil expects.

Acceptances for the Guin-eas are taken today and Vasilsaid the trip from Melbournewould be broken with a sto-pover in Sydney.

The Bowler had his lead-upto the Magic Millions atMoonee Valley last Saturday

week but had his chancesruined when Jye McNeil’ssaddle shifted near the 800mpoint of the 1200m race.

He finished fifth to thePeter Moody-trained Brother-ly Secret and Vasil said thethree-year-old had comethrough the race well.

‘‘He’s taken no harm fromthe run. He has had heaps oftutoring going right-handedand he’s had no issues withthat so I’ve got no doubt abouthim going right-handed.’’

Vasil thought it was essen-tial to have a left-handed whiprider for The Bowler and hasbooked Craig Newitt.

Prince Harada, meanwhile,is scheduled to have a jump-out at Caulfield tomorrow ashis preparations for a returnin the Group 3 Manfred Sta-kes (1200m) on February 1ramp up.

Vasil said Prince Haradawas likely to have two jump-outs before the Manfred Sta-kes at Caulfield and then go to

the Group 3 C S Hayes Stakes(1400m) second-up at Fleming-ton on February 15.

Two weeks later is theAustralian Guineas (1600m).

‘‘That being his third run,he’ll still have plenty of juicein the tank to go to Sydney,’’Vasil said.

Prince Harada was one ofthe boom three-year-oldsheading into the spring butfinished out of the placings inthe Group 1 Golden Rose andCaulfield Guineas.

Invisible to make presence felt in MMINVISIBLE’S co-trainer, MichaelHawkes, agrees Unencumbered isthe deserved favourite for the MagicMillions Classic but also believes heis there to be beaten.

The Bjorn Baker-trained Unen-cumbered is the best performedyoungster in Saturday’s $2 millionrace for two-year-olds at the GoldCoast, with four wins from fivestarts.

Invisible is the second favouriteahead of tomorrow’s crucial barrierdraw, based on his recent debut winat Canterbury.

The colt will have his final pre-race gallop at Rosehill tomorrowand travel north two days later,avoiding the current heat wavein Queensland.

‘‘Unencumbered has the score onthe board and he is the one to beat,’’Hawkes said.

‘‘But Invisible deserves his tick-et,’’ he said.

‘‘He is nice and fresh and it is anopen race . . . One thing he has in hisfavour is that he won at Canter-bury, which should help him on thetight Gold Coast track.’’

Gai stays but Waller a Star of the futureLEADING syndication company StarThoroughbreds has announced achange in direction with Chris Wal-ler to be the trainer of all yearlingsbought this year.

Gai Waterhouse has been the ex-clusive trainer of Star Thorough-breds horses since Denise Martin es-tablished the company 20 years ago.

Martin said in a statement yester-day all horses currently trained byWaterhouse would remain in hercare but all new acquisitions wouldgo to Sydney’s premier trainer.

‘‘After a lengthy and extremely suc-

cessful association with Gai Water-house Racing, Star Thoroughbredsannounces today the beginning of anew business relationship with ChrisWaller Racing,’’ Martin said.

‘‘All yearlings purchased this yearby Star Thoroughbreds will be train-ed by Chris Waller. The many horseswhich Gai currently trains for StarThoroughbreds will continue to re-ceive the expert care and attention,characteristic of the Hall of Fametrainer and will also continue to wearthe famous purple and white stars,Star Thoroughbred’s colours.’’