By Michael Guerin
Greg Hope will arrive at Cambridge tomorrow a lot more confident than when he left it last Saturday. Because the Canterbury trainer now believes juvenile trot favourite Enghien is set to do things right in his $100,000 division of Jewels Day.
Enghien has been the red hot favourite since destroying almost all of his opponents in the Sires’ Stakes Trot at Addington two weeks ago, giving the likes of Custodian and Habibi Inta a huge start and thrashing them.
That suggested he only has to bring that form and manners to race two tomorrow to win, but the manners component looked far from a done deal when he galloped away wildly, from behind the mobile in a simple two-horse workout at Cambridge last Saturday.
That sent a shiver down Hope’s spine but he has rested easier since Enghien was far more professional during private use of the mobile starting gate at Cambridge on Wednesday.
“We have worked on a few things and he was great,” says Hope, who trains in partnership with wife Nina. “He was far more relaxed and now I am too because I am more confident he will go away safely.”
For all the genius of Custodian’s new trainers Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen and the freakish ability of Habibi Inta’s mentor Paul Nairn, a well-behaved Enghien looks the first good thing of the day tomorrow.
Even hotter will be his stablemate Monbet who looks certain to complete his stunning season by overcoming a wide draw in the four-year-old trot, with Hope thrilled with New Zealand’s best trotter.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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