Trish Dunell
Group One performer Hiflyer pleased his trainer Peter Lock with his trial performance at Cambridge on Tuesday ahead of his next assignment, the Gr.1 JR & N Berkett Telegraph (1200m) at Trentham on January 19.
The six-year-old son of Tavistock finished third in his 900m heat behind Pop Star Princess and Cyber Attack and Lock said his charge did enough to show that he is spot-on ahead of the Telegraph.
“I was more than happy with him. It was only 900m, but he settled lovely and Shaun McKay (jockey) said he felt like he had two or three more gears if he really wanted them,” Lock said.
“Shaun got off him this afternoon and said that he feels better, bigger and stronger than what he did last time in. We are pretty confident that we have got him in the right space.”
Hiflyer posted a runner-up performance behind Melody Belle in the Gr.1 Tarzino Trophy (1400m) at Hastings in the spring and Lock is hoping he can go one better this time in.
“If you look back over his record, whenever he’s gone into a race fresh he’s very hard to beat,” Lock said.
“You can’t be too confident going into a Group One with just the one trial under your belt, but he went to Taupo on a nice track over 1000m and went 59 (seconds) and ran home the last 600m in 33. That showed us he was pretty close to the mark.
“We were more than happy with what’s happened today. He has pulled up well, he had a little blow. That’s his final hit-out, he will head to Wellington from here.”