3 minute read
Trainer Richard Collett is hoping comeback galloper Super Strike can give his move to Sydney some momentum when the Group 3 winner steps into his comfort zone at Randwick on Saturday.
Richard Collett, father of jockeys Jason and Alysha, quietly brought 10 horses from New Zealand, and took over the lease of daughter-in-law Clare Cunningham's Warwick Farm stables, back in August looking for a change of lifestyle after enduring a tough couple of years back home.
Also making the move with Richard and his wife Judy were their daughter Tasha and her jockey husband Andrew Calder and their three children.
"Auckland had quite strict lockdowns through Covid and we had situations where we couldn't race horses or train them for a good period of time,'' he said.
"And there was another period where we were allowed to race horses but not allowed to travel with them.
"With Jason and Alysha over here, and I've been doing the same thing for a long time in New Zealand and I enjoyed it here, I felt it was time for change.
"We bought some horses over five years ago to get a feel about the place. I knew a bit about Warwick Farm, it's a bit busier now five years later."
His numbers have grown to 12 and Collett, who has trained around 700 winners, admits when the horses arrived in Sydney they weren't race fit so he's been happy to be patient, with only 10 starters so far, as they settled in and worked into condition.
"We bought them over from an environment at Pukekohe where there's 50 horses in work to where there's close to 800 horses,'' he said.
"They're getting used to working on an all weather track. That's why we've taken a while to get them fit and to adapt to everything that's here.
"I'll take it as it comes, we're going to the sales and buying yearlings, and it will evolve. We want to focus on getting some nice horses into the city and being competitive."
Super Strike had 18 months off the scene through injury after he won a Group 3 race at Trentham back in January last year but he's caught the eye in both starts and Collett is expecting the Schweppes Handicap (1600m) to be his best run of the campaign so far.
The six-year-old came from last to be beaten three lengths by Coal Crusher over 1300m at Newcastle first-up then ran into third behind Cavalier Charles at Rosehill over 1400m three weeks ago.
"He got through the grades pretty quick, he was hard to hold out when he was presented right in New Zealand,'' Collett said.
"He's a lightly raced horse and had a big period away from racing. He's just getting back to a good fitness level.
"He's a nice professional type horse. I've been waiting to get him to a mile, it's just been a process."
Collett is hoping now Super Strike, $6.50 with TAB on Thursday, has reached the mile he'll be able to make some use of the inside gate at Randwick as he's wary of short-priced favourite Democracy Manifest.
"The draw will play into our hands a fair bit,'' he said.
"Jason knows the horse now, I don't know how much tempo will be in the race but I'll let Jason work that out. He gets a mile well and he could get further but we will have to see how he shapes up.
"He's at the top of the benchmark rating and has a bit of weight but if he's going to be competitive in handicaps he should be able to carry 61kg in the field he's in."
Stablemate Ripped could be a dark horse in the Midway Handicap (2000m).
Collett said the gelding made a promising local debut in late October, he was the trainer's first runner from the group of horses he travelled, but didn't cope with the heat at Newcastle second-up.
He showed he was back on track running a close up sixth behind King Ratel over a mile two weeks ago and is ready for a step up in distance that's been a long time coming.
"I've been waiting three years to run him over ground, he's bred to stay and he looks like a 2400m horse,'' he said.
"He got flat footed when they quickened off the corner the other day. He needed an uninterrupted run and he would have run through the line nicely."
