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Consistent gelding Clever Hans will be put over the jumps prior to him seeking a change of luck in the $40,000 Coonamble Cup on Sunday.
Schooling flat horses over jumps before races has been a tactic successfully employed by trainers with stayers for many years.
“It freshens them up and keeps their mind alert,” said Clever Hans’ Tamworth trainer Leon Davies.
“It adds a bit of spark to them and Clever Hans is the type of horse you’ve got to keep the work up to. Miss a day and you lose him.”
Davies is shooting for a hat trick of Coonamble Cup wins after Altonio scored last year and Prussian Secret in 2010.
And he ranks a strong chance of a cups double at Coonamble as he also starts the former Luke Griffith trained Twin Zero first up in the $20,000 Baradine Cup.
Clever Hans has been a model of consistency since joining the Davies stable since transferring from Canberra-based Rado Boljun.
The geldings past five runs have all been in cup events.
The six-year-old finished runner-up in the South Grafton Cup on July 8, runner-up in the Coffs Harbour Cup on August 2, runner-up in the Moree Cup on September 2 and third to Southern Shimmer and Double Halo in the Dubbo Cup on September 16.
Following the South Grafton Cup, Clever Hans finished a solid fourth in the Listed Tatt’s Cup at Eagle Farm on July 21.
“He hasn’t put in a bad run since I’ve had him,” Davies said. “He tries his hardest every time he goes around.
“He’s probably been a bit unlucky not to win recently. In saying that though, he’s found one a bit too good on the day for him,” Davies said. “Hopefully that changes at Coonamble.”
To compensate for the 21-day break since the Dubbo Cup, Davies trialled Clever Hans 10 days back.
“He won and ran good time,” Davies said. “He wasn’t up against that much in the trial but he’s come through really well and worked good since.”
Clever Hans consistency has seen him pay the penalty at the weights rising to 59kg.
“He’s a big strong horse who can carry that sort of weight,” Davies reasoned. “His danger is Mark Mason’s horse Emotional Outburst. We have to give him five kilos.”
Emotional Outburst was a last start winner of the Barraba Cup.