By Adam Hamilton
CHAMPION driver Chris Alford no qualms with Lennytheshark becoming a bit of a forgotten horse in the Miracle Mile.
Despite winning the Perth Inter Dominion and Victoria Cup, Lennytheshark is only third favourite at $4 with the Aussie TAB for Sunday’s $750,000 feature at Menangle.
“I don’t care what odds he is or where he is in the betting, I know how good he is and I’m going there pretty confident I’ve got the right horse to win,” Alford boomed.
“His form through the heats and final in Perth was great, his Victoria Cup win was amazing to burn early like that and still win so well, then he ran home in 54.5sec at Bendigo in what was virtually just a trial without me asking anything of him.
The Miracle Mile is the only real “major” in Australia to escaped Alford, but he is sure Lennytheshark is his best chance to win the sprint so far.
“Golden Reign was a great horse, but more a stayer and not suited to the sprint around the small Harold Park track when he ran third,” he said.
“Lenny is ideally suited to a race like this. He’s so versatile and so fast.”
Much is said and written about the value of experience around the big Menangle track.
Lennytheshark has that with four runs there for a win (NSW Derby), second (NSW Derby heat), third (Len Smith Mile last April) and sixth (Sydney Inter Dominion final this time last year).
“People have asked if wished we’d our last lead-up run at Menangle like all the others, but it’s not as important because Lenny has been there so many times before,” he said.
“We had the run at Bendigo and David (Aiken, trainer) has proven how well he has this horse primed when it matters.”
So what about tactics?
“I’ll play that by ear. We know he can begin really quickly, but it depends how he feels and what the others do at the start,” Alford said.
Alford said he would be keeping a very close eye on buzz mare Arms Of An Angel from the pole.
“She’s still got to score-up properly yet,” he said. “Last time wasn’t the first time she’d done something wrong in a race. Look at her first run here (in Australia).
“Barrier one can sometimes be a bit tricky for those horses who like to fly out from wide draws.”
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