South Australian sprinter Itz Invincible will be facing the toughest test of his career when he lines up in the Listed $120,000 Kensington Stakes (1000m) down the Flemington straight on Saturday.
Itz Invincible will be up against multiple G1 winner Flamberge, above, in the Kensington Stakes at Flemington. Photo by Jenny Barnes.
Itz Invincible is the winner of six races and hasn’t missed a place from fourteen starts and has been given his chance to test his ability against some handy sprinters in the Kensington Stakes after a last start win in a 1000m BenchMark 90 Handicap at Morphettville Parks on December 16.
Murray Bridge trainer Matthew Seyers has given Itz Invincible a jump out since his last start and said the five year old was any easy winner over 900m and is hoping he will be competitive on Saturday.
“He had another jump-out at Murray Bridge over 900m about a fortnight ago and won that pretty easily,” Seyers told The Advertiser.
“If he’s not too far off them on Saturday, then we might be able to lift the bar a little.”
“We’re not going over there with super-high expectations but he never disappoints.”
“There’s plenty of pace in the race, which suits him a little bit.
“I just don’t know when they hit the accelerator if he’s going to be able to go with them like he does here.”
Itz Invincible has worked his way up through the classes since winning his maiden on debut at Murray Bridge in June 2015 but has been limited to only fourteen starts because of feet problems.
“He’s had a few feet issues and we’ve never really had a fluent run with him,” Seyers said.
“It’s probably not the ideal race to venture across with him but, because of the programming, there really wasn’t anything in Adelaide for him for about five weeks.”
Seyers is planning to have Itz Invincible at his peak for the 2018 Adelaide Autumn Carnival sprints and is hoping to get a fair assessment of the five year old against some handy tough sprinters.
South Australian based Paul Gatt will accompany Itz Invincible to Flemington when he takes on multiple Group 1 winner Flamberge, last start winner Lord Of The Sky, the well performed Thermal Current and the highly credentialed former Hong Kong sprinter Amber Sky.
“We thought leading into our carnival it’s a good stepping stone for him, just to give us a gauge on where he’s at with a few of the better sprinters,” Seyers said.
“He’s beaten a few of the better ones over here but you’ve got to measure up over there to run in even better races.”
Itz Invincible is marked at $9 for the Kensington Stakes in a wide betting race with Ladbrokes.com.au listing seven of the eight runners under the $10 mark with Amber Sky heading the market order at $4.50 just ahead of Thermal Current at $4.60.
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