By Glenn Davis
Trainer Stu Kendrick believes a savvier Tarzan is ready to end a distance hoodoo in the Tim Bell Memorial Handicap at Doomben on Saturday.
Tarzan is regarded as one of the fastest short course sprinters in south-east Queensland and boasts an impressive record of 13 wins and eight placings from 34 starts.
The bulk of the seven-year-olds wins have been on his home track at the Sunshine Coast where he has won nine times while his other four wins were at Doomben.
The son of Drumbeats is yet to win past 1110 metres and has failed to place in five starts over 1200 metres.
However, Kendrick believes he gets his chance to break the hoodoo against a smart field of sprinters.
Kendrick will be double handed in the Tim Bell Open Handicap with stablemate Misery set to start despite a wide barrier 14.
“Tarzan is becoming hard to place and is creeping up in the weights,” Kendrick said.
“He’s got 60kgs but I decided against claiming as Luke Tarrant knows him well and gets on well with him.
“He won with 59.5kgs on a heavy track at Caloundra last start and with 61kgs before that so he’s used to carrying big weights.
“His ideal distance is 1000 metres and he loves big tracks like Caloundra where he’s got such a good record but he’s won four races at Doomben but not over this trip.”
Kendrick believes Tarzan’s barrier five will boost his chances against the likes of
Monsieur Gustave and Whypeeo.
“He needed to draw a decent alley and be on the inside of those horses, otherwise he’d find it hard to win,” he said.
“He had a throat operation after his first preparation which held him back to shorter races but he’s more savvy now.
“There’s no better time than now to win over 1200 metres, especially after the way he’s been finishing off his races.”
Kendrick accepted with Tarzan in the July Sprint at Rosehill last week and hasn’t ruled out an interstate trip.
“We nominated him for the July Sprint but didn’t go when he drew bad,” he said.
“If he happened to win, we might have to look to the south as he’s already up in the weights here.”
Racing Queensland webnews August 1