Japanese import Ambitious will find the 1600m too short when he kicks off his 2018 Spring Carnival campaign in the Group 2 $250,000 Dato’ Tan Chin Nam Stakes at The Valley on Saturday.
Night’s watch, above, is the favourite for the 2018 Dato’ Tan Chin Nam Stakes at The Valley. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.
Stable representative Sam Freedman supervised Ambitious’ gallop at Morning on Tuesday morning and told racing.com that the seven year old Deep Impact stallion will be better suited as he steps up in distance later into his preparation.
“He will be short of his best on Saturday over that trip,” Sam Freedman said.
“Hopefully he will be finding the line late and he is going to find his best form on firm tracks.”
“He is looking for further than the trip on Saturday.”
Ambitious is yet to salute the judge in first place from five starts for the Anthony Freedman stable on Australian soil but Sam Freedman said that they always expected the import to take one preparation to completely acclimatize.
“We always maintained that he would take a preparation to reach his best and just over the Winter in Queensland and in Sydney he has strengthen up,” Sam Freedman said.
“The spell he had after his preparation in Queensland, he put on a lot weight and he is probably walking around 30 or 35kg heavier than he was last prep.”
Even though Sam Freedman believes that the 1600m will be too short for Ambitious on Saturday, he said the stable was pleased with his track work at Mornington on Tuesday morning as well as a handy third in a recent 1190m Cranbourne barrier trial.
“We have been really happy with him,” Sam Freedman said.
“His trial at Cranbourne on a heavy track was probably the best he has trialled for us and his track work has been really solid.”
“He worked (at Mornington) over 1200m and just improved from the 600m. We didn’t ask him to do too much, he does quite a lot within himself. He can be quite a strong galloper in his work. He quickened nicely from the 400m on wards.”
Ambitious’ best result during his last campaign was a second in the Group 1 $1.5m Kia Tancred Stakes (2400m) at Rosehill during the 2018 Sydney Autumn Carnival and he also finished third in the Group 1 $650,000 Hardy Brothers Doomben Cup (2000m) at Doomben during the 2018 Brisbane Winter Carnival.
Mark Zahra will be having his first race ride on Ambitious who has drawn barrier two in the eleven horse Dato’ Tan Chin Nam Stakes field.
Pre-post betting for the Dato’ Tan Chin Nam Stakes at Ladbrokes.com.au has Ambitious marked at $10 while the Darren Weir trained Night’s Watch is the $3.60 favourite just ahead of the James Cummings trained Hartnell at $3.70.
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