After investing 18 months in meticulous planning, Don’t Hope Do’s owners and team will finally gauge their strategy’s success during the Group 1 sprint at Caulfield.
Trainer Simon Zahra believes the Oakleigh Plate (1100m) on Saturday at Caulfield provides Don’t Hope Do’s top shot at Group 1 glory.
In partnership with cousin Mathew Ellerton, Zahra helped prepare Booker for the 2019 Oakleigh Plate win, was assistant trainer for River Dove (2023) and Miss Kournikova (2001) under Ellerton, and contributed to John Hawkes’ team for Sports in 2000.
“Mathew and I won three, and we didn’t think Booker could win,” Zahra said.
“We sort of knew what type of horse it takes to win it, and whether this bloke is up to that class, time will tell, but the weight certainly helps.”
Don’t Hope Do boasts four triumphs across 15 starts, specialising in rapid distances between 1000m and 1100m.
Stakes level has seen him twice before, with a fourth in the Listed Wylie Handicap at Morphettville last September and a recent first-up runner-up effort in the Group 2 Rubiton Stakes (1100m) at Caulfield on February 7.
“We’ve placed him quite well over the last 12 months, but I said to the owners, probably 18 months ago, the Oakleigh Plate was probably the race for him,” Zahra said.
“The 1100 (metres) at Caulfield, he loves it, he’ll get in with no weight, so that was the plan and, so far, it’s worked.
“We put him up against better sprinters in the Rubiton at set-weights and thought if he can compete with them then under handicap conditions in the Oakleigh Plate, he’ll run him.
“We didn’t have him screwed down, we left a little in the tank in case we got into the Oakleigh Plate and we’ve got him there.”
Oak Hill, first, and Hedged, third, from the Rubiton Stakes carry unchanged weights from that day two weeks ago, while Don’t Hope Do unloads 4.5kg.
In addition, Don’t Hope Do has filled a placing in each of his three Caulfield starts, with a win among them last October.
“He loves it here, especially the 1100 (metres),” Zahra said.
“He might get to the front a bit easier with Jigsaw and some of those horses not running.
“We’ve drawn well, so we’ll see how we go.”
Discover top racing odds for the Oakleigh Plate via betting sites.