3 minute read
The Flemington straight course will hold no fears for Sydney visitor Lord Olympus.
In a bid to reinvigorate Lord Olympus, Sydney trainer Mark Newnham has swung the sprinter south to contest a race at Flemington.
Lord Olympus is set to contest the Country Achiever Gwenda Johnstone (1100m) on Saturday, the second time the sprinter has contested a race down the famous Flemington straight.
As a three-year-old, Newnham sent Lord Olympus south to contest the $500,000 Inglis Dash (1100m) in which he finished third behind Capriccio and Bella Nipotina.
"He has run well down the straight before, so I thought, it's a change of scenery and it's a fairly suitable race," Newnham said.
A winner of six of his 19 starts, Lord Olympus scored at Warwick Farm over 1000m last October but has been unable to trouble the scorer in six runs since, with a best effort of fourth at Randwick on heavy ground when resuming.
Newnham said Lord Olympus was stuck with an awkward rating that made placing him in the right races difficult.
Lord Olympus was last seen finishing ninth at Randwick over 1100m on heavy ground on May 28.
That followed a midfield finish at Gosford over 1200m on May 7 and a fifth-place finish in the Listed Ortensia Stakes (1100m) at Scone the following week.
"He has just found himself in the middle of the benchmark here where he is finding it hard to win," Newnham said.
"Once they get in those mid-80s, they are very hard to place, and it is hard to win.
"His run at Gosford was really good, his run at Scone was good.
"He didn't seem to really pick up at all on the really heavy track last start, so I thought a change of scenery and a bit of change in the ground might suit him."