Having amassed more than $300,000 for connections in the 2015 calendar year Flaming Flutter’s 2016-17 campaign begins in earnest Friday night, en route to a third Inter Dominion.
Quite fittingly stepping out in a race named after the Inter Dominion king, Blacks A Fake, Geoff Webster’s six-year-old will race for stakes at Tabcorp Park Melton for the first time since running seventh in the February 6 Del Re National Hunter Cup.
The latter capped a campaign that began on July 10, 2015, and climaxed with third place in the Inter Dominion final at Gloucester Park on December 13. The Bettors Delight/Twice As Hot entire earlier placed second in the March 2015 Inter Dominion at Menangle.
“He had a great season, second in the Inter Dom and third in the Inter Dom in the one year,” his Bannockburn trainer-driver said. “He had a long campaign and these Group 1 horses, they have to have a break at some stage.”
Friday night’s return follows Flaming Flutter running second in trials on June 20 (behind Major Star) and June 28 (behind Stunning Grin), and Webster said it had been a slow burn.
“He takes a long time to come back up once he has had a spell,” he said. “He is only a small horse, but he takes time to come around to where I want him. He is not too far off the mark, having had a couple of trials.”
There will be little time for Flaming Flutter to find his feet in the Blacks A Fake Free For All, with fellow Grand Circuit horse Messini second-run back and classy types Ive Gottalife, Maximan, Major Crocker, Metro Mike and Five Star Anvil joining veteran Smudge Bromac in the eight-horse field.
Webster said he’d learn more about how Flaming Flutter was travelling on race night, but that “he has been quite consistent throughout his career”.
In the short-term next month’s Breeders Crown graduates race is on the agenda, with a long-term view to returning to Gloucester Park later in the year for the November 25-December 9 TABtouch Inter Dominion.
“We will pick and choose along the way,” Webster said. “Hopefully he is quite consistent across the season.”
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