No one was more frustrated by the abandonment of last Saturday’s Randwick meeting than Victorian trainer Gavin Bedggood.
Bedggood’s in-form galloper St Lawrence had been set to line up in the Premier’s Cup Prelude (1800m), but after heavy rain lashed Sydney on Friday night, most of the meeting was cancelled.
The Prelude was one of the few races to survive, rescheduled to the Kensington track this Wednesday. All original acceptances have been reinstated and the race will remain over 1800m.
Bedggood said St Lawrence would have relished Saturday’s conditions, with the field reduced to just seven on his favoured heavy track.
There have already been six scratchings from Wednesday’s rescheduled race, although the field still sits two above the safety limit of 12.
“He had done all his work around running on Saturday, but it is what it is and he’s already up there,” Bedggood said.
“We’re not going to get wet ground down here, I don’t think.
“So, we’ll take our chance and the move to the Kensington might discourage a few of those better horses from stepping out and they might look for another option.”
Despite the changes, Bedggood admitted reading the race was tricky.
“After all the scratchings, the field fell away to a field of seven, and I thought he was a great chance, but it was a very hard race to read.
“There was a lot of horses that are early in their campaigns, a lot of horses from the same stable, so it was a bit of a raffle.
“I’m not all over the form up there, so, for me, it was a hard race to read.”
Wednesday’s run will also mark Bedggood’s first experience training a runner at the Kensington circuit.
“I’ve never seen the Kensington track,” he said.
“I know it’s an assistance to be up near the speed, so we’ll see what it (the race) looks like once the final scratchings come through and what sort of field we are left with.”