Home sickness cruelled the Melbourne spring campaign of Taxmeifyoucan but he could find summer redemption in Sydney with a victory in Saturday’s Group Two Villiers Stakes.
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A first-up fourth in the Theo Marks Stakes earned Taxmeifyoucan a trip south but he didn’t cope with the travel and finished last at his only Melbourne start.
Since returning home he has posted consecutive placings at Rosehill and in the Goulburn Cup last start when he was beaten in a photo finish so close it prompted an unsuccessful protest to have the result declared a dead heat.
“He is as good as I can get him,” Hickman said.
“He had to have a crack at this race in case he can get into the $3 million Doncaster.”
The winner of the Villiers earns exemption from a ballot on the Doncaster Mile which has received a significant prizemoney boost as part of The Championships initiative introduced next autumn.
Saturday’s Villiers will be under different circumstances than most years with the meeting shifted from the Randwick course proper to the Kensington track, forcing a distance cut from a mile to 1550m and a limit of 14 runners.
Hickman says those conditions will impact on the chances of his charge.
“It has probably improved them,” he said.
“There are probably six runners who he won’t have to contend with now.”
Over the past 20 years only six winners of the Villiers Stakes have carried more than 54kg and only four of those have lugged more than 54.5kg.
It has evolved into an ideal race for progressive horses with light weights, a category Taxmeifyoucan fits into.
“Hasn’t he been placed to perfection to get there,” Hickman said.
“In saying that, he has only ever won two races and he is up against a lot of well credentialled horses.
“But he is Group Two placed and there are pretty handy form lines around him.”
Those form lines include a third to Rebel Dane in the Royal Sovereign Stakes in February, an electric win over Lunar Rise in the Scone Guineas. In the Theo Marks he finished just over half a length behind Solzhenitsyn who subsequently defended his Group One Toorak Handicap crown.
With Berry committed to the Gai Waterhouse-trained Western Symbol in the Villiers, Tim Clark has landed the ride on Taxmeifyoucan.
Punters are warming to the four-year-old’s chances with the gelding backed in from his opening quote of $9.50 to be equal second elect at $7 behind the Tony McEvoy-trained Sysmo who holds sway at $6.50 in an open market.
