Source :- THE AGE NEWS
There’s no shortage of lucrative options in the back of co-trainer Luke Price’s mind for consistent galloper Monte Veebee beyond his return in the Chase The Dream Handicap (1250m) at Canterbury today.
It’s been a case of musical trainers for the five-year-old, who started out with the Robert and Luke Price team at Kembla but switched to the Bjorn Baker stable for his last campaign where he recorded a first-up provincial win and four city placings before coming back home.
Price feels Monte Veebee could be an ideal horse to aim at the rich Provincial-Midway Championships series in the autumn, with its $1 million final, given he is eligible having come back to their stable well before the cut-off.
“He could be a good Four Pillars horse, too, but I hope his benchmark goes beyond that,” Price said. “I think we’ve got a city class horse back. It’s a good starting point and let’s hope he can start off like he did last prep.”
The Four Pillars Midway (1500m) is a Benchmark 68 worth $500,000, run on Golden Eagle day, and Monte Veebee would be eligible to contest that race once he’s had three starts back in the Price camp.
When the gelding left the Price stable he’d won a maiden by 6-1/4 lengths and in his first run for Baker he backed it up with a 4-1/4 length Class 1 win.
Price said he’d rate the horse’s recent trials as fair, but that’s not unusual, and he saw enough in a race day track gallop before his Hawkesbury trial win to be sure he’s in order.
“I know the horse is going well, he’ll take his best form to the races. It’s just how the set-up helps him,” he said. “Once the winkers go on race day it’s game on, he knows trials are trials and races are races.”
Jockey Grant Buckley will have a relatively open book when it comes to riding Monte Veebee and Price suspects that the bold front-running style that has taken him to his two provincial wins might not cut it in town.
That’s his observation anyway of the four placings earlier in the year.
“He raced on speed and was dominant first-up in what looked the right race,” he said. “I’d have to say he probably couldn’t lead them in town in those Saturday races, he’s done too much work and was left a sitting shot.”
Supplied by Racing NSW
