Pat Carey’s decision to tackle a provincial lead-up race with All I Survey is set to pay dividends at Flemington.

The four-year-old lines up in Listed company in the Bagot Handicap over 2800m at Flemington on Friday after regaining form with a narrow victory at Geelong over 2233m on December 16.

After looking at the long-range weather forecast heading into the Flemington meeting where the gelding was entered to run over 2400m on December 19, Carey decided to send All I Survey to Geelong to keep him away from the extreme heat which eventually caused the meeting to be abandoned.

“I dropped him back to the Geelong trip because I had looked at the weather and was concerned about the upcoming heat that weekend,” Carey said.

“I decided the conditions were good at Geelong even though he had to come back a furlong (200m).

“It was the win of a horse that was a bit dour but I got a run into him and that was a key factor going forward to one of these races this weekend.”

Warm conditions are again forecast in Melbourne later in the week with 37 degrees on Thursday and 36 for Friday’s meeting.

But it won’t be anywhere near as hot as the 43 degrees that forced the cancellation of the previous Flemington meeting.

After winning a Terang maiden earlier in the year, All I Survey made his way to Flemington where he finished third in the Galilee Series Final over 2500m.

He was then placed at Caulfield before running seventh in the South Australian Derby at Morphettville.

Carey said All I Survey, who will be ridden by Craig Williams in Friday’s race, should handle the rise in distance and may get even further.

“I like the idea of running him out over a bit more ground on the big track,” Carey said.

Article from JustHorseRacing.com.au