The Brisbane winter carnival campaign for Out Uncle Sam is about to get a lot tougher.
Blessed with exciting and natural ability, the four-year-old was brought north with a mindset of being blooded into the open class arena.
Following a stunning victory at Albion Park upon resumption two weeks ago, the Chris Frisby trained gelding sat wide throughout before racing clear over the concluding stages in a new career best time of 1:52.6.
The winning effort clearly underlined his enormous potential.
Now, he gets his opportunity to showcase his obvious talent when he tackles the Listed $25,540 Oakwood Capital Lucky Creed at Albion Park tomorrow night (Saturday).
It’s his first official start in the open class grade and it will paint a clearer picture for plans going forward.
“This is a good test for him but the whole campaign was based around him taking that next step and seeing if he can measure up against the better types. While the locals don’t boast a big name talent, their seasoned horses that play hard and tough, my guy has to prove himself and this is the first step.” Frisby said.
Our Uncle Sam will start from gate seven, the outside of the front-line in the 2680m feature while key rivals have drawn better including the in-form Invincible Loxton (gate 3).
While the long term target is still weeks away, Frisby wants a forward showing to secure a start in the Gr.1 $200,540 UBET Blacks A Fake Queensland Championship on July 21 – the final leg of the 2017/18 Australian Pacing Gold Grand Circuit season.
But Frisby is confident his rising star will acquit himself well.
“He’s a very good horse fresh, he wasn’t at his best during the Chariots of Fire campaign earlier this year but I was confident he was back to his best this prep and he showed that with his first-up win.
“The draw is a shocker and I’ll leave all the decisions up to Anthony (driver) and he can work out what he wants to do, at least he has some options over the longer distance.
“He’s trained on really well since his latest start; I feel he’s improving every time I bring him back for another campaign. We all know he’s fast but he’s really developing with his strength and that’s what you need to make it to the top level, this is a good test for him.”
UBET have listed Our Uncle Sam as a $3 chance.
The Kylie Rasmussen and Darren Weeks prepared Invincible Loxton, a winner of his past six starts, is the current favourite at $2.70.
The feature race is named after the legendary pacer Lucky Creed who was best known for winning 24 consecutive races during 1969 and 1970.
Prepared by Merv Wanless, the brilliant pacer won a number of features throughout his career including the 1970 Miracle Mile at Harold Park when driven by legendary horseman Vic Frost.
Its race 6 on the program and the scheduled start time is 7.41pm.
Chris Barsby | RQ Web News | June 22 | Photo by Dan Costello