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Stoked Up For A Shot At Adelaide Trainers’ Premiership

3 minute read

The Phillip Stokes stable continues its late-season push towards an Adelaide trainers’ premiership with a host of strong chances at Morphettville on the Parks track on this Saturday.

Trainer : PHILLIP STOKES
Trainer : PHILLIP STOKES Picture: Racing Photos

Adelaide foreman Tommy Stokes said it was never a goal to chase the title, but a treble at Murray Bridge last weekend had bought the premiership into calculations.

"It's never really been a goal and we didn't realise up until last weekend how close we were sitting second," Stokes said.

"We don't have much ammo left.

"We've got a lot of young horses here coming through and only about 20 in work, but we'll definitely be trying our hardest now to win it.

"And we can only see it growing (in the future); we're always trying to new things and ways to better as a stable."

The stable's leading hopes look to be Fall On A Star, who is marked a $2.20 favourite with tab.com.au to make it consecutives win after an impressive victory at Gawler, and Ambidazzle ($2.50), looks to have found a winnable race earlier in the day.

"Ambidazzle is deep into her prep," Phillip Stokes said.

"We're waiting for her to run bad race but she just keeps on racing well and hasn't really shown us any signs she needs a break.

"And Fall On A Star has always shown lots of ability.

"We were disappointed first-up but she's a very quirky horse, she hates being among horses.

"You could see that in the replay first-up and the blinkers going on her – being able to roll to the lead – made a big difference last time.

"She looks hard to beat again."

One of the most interesting runners will be two-year-old Brazen Boy.

The son of Brazen Beau had everyone talking when he won a trial by 14 lengths but has failed to live up to the hype in his two subsequent runs.

He blew like the wind in betting on debut at Moonee Valley back in November when he led and was beaten 8.45 lengths behind Paulele.

He went to the paddock and had good support from punters first-up from a spell at Pakenham when he was snagged back from a tricky gate and had a gun run before failing to finish off on May 12.

Tommy Stokes said the stable would look to be positive again in what looks a strong race, with some highly regarded youngsters from rival stables set to debut.

"It's funny, he looks twice the horse he was when he was here at the end of last year," Stokes said.

"The team at Pakenham was very happy with him before he resumed. We decided to try and ride him to relax and in hindsight that might have been a mistake.

"Dad said to train him like I was beforehand here in Adelaide, so we'll change tactics and try and be positive.

"I'm sure he can run a better race.

"I'd be surprised if he won, as their looks to be some nice horses in that race, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was in the top three."


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