Ajax Stakes first stop on Globe tour

SYDNEY – Sydney’s wet autumn has prompted Victorian trainers Mick Price and Michael Kent Jr to bring two of their team north, in the hope of striking rain-affected conditions during the carnival.

Globe and La Fracas will kick off their campaigns at Rosehill on March 14, Globe in the A$300,000 (S$273,000) Group 2 Ajax Stakes (1,500m) and La Fracas in the A$250,000 Group 3 Maurice McCarten Stakes (1,100m).

It will be the former’s first run since he was withdrawn from the Group 1 Cox Plate (2,040m) on veterinary advice, having captured the Group 1 Caulfield Stakes (2,000m) at his previous start.

“We’ve planned Sydney to take advantage of soft tracks. I know he won a Group 1 last time on good ground, but we feel he is an excellent wet tracker,” said Kent.

“He’s going super, his trials have been excellent. Outside gate, he’s only got one style and that’s to flow along out in front.

“There’s a bit of pressure inside him from Sandpaper and Willaidow, but he gave Tom Berry a great feel last week in the trial.”

Kent said the soft tissue swelling that forced the Charm Spirit seven-year-old out of the Cox Plate was relatively minor and “required no intervention, just a spell and rest”.

Globe’s carnival programme has not been set in stone despite Group 1 entries for the Doncaster Mile (1,600m) and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2,000m), but Kent still foresees a fruitful campaign.

La Fracas will bid to keep his unbeaten first-up record in the Maurice McCarten, though Kent warns the 1,100m is at the shorter end of the Irish-bred Night Of Thunder five-year-old’s ideal trip range.

“Mick (Price), in his time, thinks he’s one of the best wet trackers he has ever seen,” he said.

“His goal is to be up, fit, healthy and fresh when the rain arrives. We wouldn’t dismiss the idea of running him in a big sprint up there if the rain really teemed down.”

Craig Williams will partner La Fracas while Berry rides Globe. RACING AND SPORTS