Trainer Ben Brisbourne has his sights set on Brisbane’s winter carnival, with talented gelding Suparazi a potential candidate for the prestigious Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) in June.
But before that lofty goal, Brisbourne is focused on returning Suparazi to the winner’s circle in Saturday’s Group 3 Victoria Handicap (1400m) at Caulfield.
Although Suparazi hasn’t won since his Flemington success in January 2024, the rising seven-year-old has remained competitive, placing in eight of his last 12 starts and adding over $650,000 to his earnings tally. In total, the gelding has banked just over $1 million in prize money from 39 starts.
“We thought he was brilliant that day,” Brisbourne said, referring to Suparazi’s fifth-place finish in the Group 1 Newmarket Handicap (1200m) at Flemington on March 8.
“It will be a month between runs, but we gave him a tick over trial at Bendigo and he looked good.
He’s been a little while between drinks now, but he’s picked up plenty of prize money in between.
I think this is the right race for him and it would be great to see him back in the winner’s enclosure.
The 1400 metres seems to be his sweet spot, although he is effective at 1200 metres and up to a mile, so the 1400 metres second-up, looks just about right.
Declan Bates sticks with him after he rode him in the Newmarket. I thought he rode him well that day and he will take some benefit out of having had a sit on the horse.”
Suparazi has proven to be a reliable traveller, racking up placings at Rosehill, Randwick, and Kembla Grange during his last campaign. However, Brisbourne believes his last trip in December — where he finished at the tail of the field in the Group 2 Ingham Stakes (1600m) — may have taken a toll.
“I think maybe in the Ingham the effects of going up and back to Sydney two or three times eventually took its toll on him,” Brisbourne said.
“We’ll probably be a little bit more reserved this time.
We placed him quite aggressively through the spring, so you won’t see out too much this autumn, but he will travel for big races as necessary.
I’m not sure about Sydney, but there has been some talk of the Stradbroke.
He might be a suitable horse for that, but we would obviously want to see him win a race before went down that avenue.”
