CHRYSOLAUS is on track to snare a $300,000 Country Championship Final (1400m) berth at Randwick on April 4.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Jane Clement-trained grey gelding was one of 21 nominations yesterday for this Thursday’s $100,000 HNWRA Country Championship Qualifier (1400m) at Tamworth.
The three-year-old son of Youthful Legs was bred and is raced by former Tamworth Jockey Club president John Clift, the man who also bred the wonderful grey champion Gunsynd.
Chrysolaus has had 10 starts for four wins but is coming off a 10th to Gelsomina in a 1280m Benchmark 70 at Muswellbrook’s Skellatar Park on February 14.
Clement said that run should be forgotten after he was trapped on the rail with nowhere to go in the 2.3 length defeat.
“He was in second gear,” Clement said.
“And going nowhere.”
More importantly, punters should remember his start before that when he came from the rear to skittle a good field in a Tamworth Class 3 over 1000m.
That was his first run back from a good spell.
The Muswellbrook disappointment aside, he will strip fit for Thursday’s $100,000 Qualifier, Clement said.
“He’s been working well. He’s done well since Muswellbrook. This is the aim,” she said of the Championships.
Clement has also nominated Southern Orders, a last-start 1300m maiden winner, in the feature.
Tamworth trainer Leon Davies featured strongly on the nomination list with four possibles – Brilliant Poet, Crooked Blaze, Gelsomina and St Luke.
The quartet can boast an impressive nine wins from their last handful of starts between them.
St Luke snatched the elusive hat-trick of wins at Tamworth and Scone back in the spring, then was spelled. The Qualifier will be his second start back this preparation.
Crooked Blaze has won two of her last four starts, the four-year-old boasting victory over 1300m in a Narromine Class 3 in December, two starts before an impressive victory in a Muswellbrook 1280m Benchmark 70 on February 14.
And while on a run of hat-tricks, Walcha trainer Ken Martin has nominated Go Dragon.
The six-year-old gelding collared one over the summer, completing it with a strong win in a Walcha 1700m Benchmark 55 before saddling up for second in a recent 1900m Benchmark 70 at Armidale.
Tamworth Jockey Club received 136 nominations for its eight-race card next Thursday.
Weights will be declared by 4pm Monday.