Clayton Douglas has his sights set on recapturing glory with talented sprinter Title Fighter bound for Flemington.
Set for the Listed Straight Six (1200m) on Saturday, Title Fighter looks to go back-to-back after accounting for Deekay in the previous running.
Prior to last year’s win, Title Fighter filled sixth behind Dashing in Warrnambool’s Listed Wangoom (1200m), this year improving to fourth place versus Oliveanotherday in that fixture.
Extra burden awaits this campaign as Title Fighter steps up from 54kg to 60kg in the Flemington assignment, compensated by Jamie Mott aboard, the state’s top jockey on 102 wins this season and trailing Craig Williams by a pair on the Melbourne Jockeys’ Premiership ladder.
The trainer revealed Title Fighter’s path to Saturday was plotted for a third-up assignment, aided by two preparatory 1200m gallops for the gelding.
Resuming, Title Fighter hit the line gamely fifth to Recon in the Listed Hareeba Stakes (1200m) held on Mornington Cup Day.
“He obviously won the race last year and it’s been a bit of a plan to keep him on a similar program this time,” Douglas said.
“These three runs have all be planned since the start of his campaign.
“He was good first-up, was good again last week behind a nice horse and hopefully he can get the job done third-up.
“We won’t have to do much with him this week after his run on that heavy track last time.
“He had a nice enough blow after the race on that heavy ground, so he should take plenty of improvement from it.”
Title Fighter matches the 60kg topweight carried by Shawn Mathrick’s Corniche in the race drawing 21 nominations including Pop Award, De Bergerac, Losesomewinmore, Wangoom second Immortal Star and Stoli Bolli.
The racing betting markets for the Straight Six are heating up with plenty of value on offer.