By Glenn Davis
Kelly Schweida is hopeful a better barrier for Meet Mr Taylor can offset a weight turnaround favouring rival Tarzan when the pair renew their clash in the Swiss Ace Plate at the Sunshine Coast on Saturday.
Track specialist Tarzan has started 14 times over the 1000-metre journey at the Sunshine Coast for nine wins and four placings and narrowly beat Meet Mr Taylor when they last met over the trip at Eagle Farm last month.
On that occasion Tarzan carried a massive 61.5kgs when he edged out Meet Mr Taylor who carried five kilograms less.
Meet Mr Taylor drops only one kilogram under the set weights condition of the Swiss Ace Plate while Tarzan drops four kilograms.
“It’s a very hard race but Tarzan has to be the one to beat at the weights and over his pet journey of 1000 metres,” Schweida said.
“We meet Tarzan a lot worse after he beat us last time but the thing in our favour is a better barrier.
“Tarzan has an awkward gate in barrier 10 while my bloke has the rails.
“Tarzan has an outstanding record and its his home track whereas Meet Mr Taylor has never started there.”
While Schweida fears Tarzan, he isn’t ruling out Meet Mr Taylor reversing their last result.
“Meet Mr Taylor has been racing well and he looks great,” he said.
“It’s a bit of a downfall never having raced on the track but Meet Mr Taylor has a perfect draw and will be hard to beat.”
Schweida hasn’t ruled out sending Meet Mr Taylor to Sydney if he again puts in a top performance.
“We gave it a bit of thought earlier to send him south but with the big races on at the time the ones we looked at were a bit too hard,” he said.
“I haven’t ruled out sending him to Sydney for the right race if his form warrants it.”
Schweida also expect stablemate Outraged to be competitive in the Mooloolaba Cup (1600m).
Outraged has failed to place in three starts since winning over 2200 metres at the Gold Coast in August.
At his latest appearance the eight-year-old finished sixth to Queensland Oaks winner Winning Ways over 2225 metres at Eagle Farm last month.
“He had a few weeks off since his last run and he should get back again and be running on,” he said.
Schweida is aiming Outraged for the $1 million Magic Millions Trophy at the Gold Coast in January.
“He’s run in the race the last three years and ran third last year but this time the distance has been increased from 2200 metres to 2400 metres,” he said.
Racing Queensland webnews November 14