Bel Sprinter’s ‘work at Mornington last Friday was enormous’

Bel Sprinter at peak for Oakleigh Plate

• by:Michael Manley 
• From:Herald Sun 
• February 21, 2012 12:00am

Bel Sprinter is going to have a crack at Sepoy in Saturday’s Oakleigh Plate. Picture: Wayne LudbeySource: Herald Sun

MORNINGTON trainer Jason Warren can’t wait for his brilliant Bel Sprinter to have a crack at star three-year-old colt Sepoy in Saturday’s Oakleigh Plate.

Warren said his star gelding had a distinct advantage in both fitness and at the weights over the 1100m.

“This is the race my horse has been set for, whereas Sepoy is being aimed at a feature race in Dubai over a month away. It’s got to be an advantage,” Warren said.

“It’s a good time to have a crack at Sepoy.

“I’m looking forward to it. My horse is going to be at his peak while Sepoy might need a run or two, considering his main goal is in Dubai.”

Warren’s confidence is buoyed by the weight difference between the horses, Sepoy carrying 58kg and Bel Sprinter 54kg.

The Oakleigh Plate at Caulfield is seen as a race in two – both horses have lost only one race.

Bel Sprinter’s record stands at five wins from six starts. His lone defeat was by Lone Rock in September’s Bobbie Lewis Quality at Flemington, a race in which Warren said he was unlucky.

“He had excuses in that, as he drifted down to the slower inside section of the track in the closing stages,” the trainer said.

Sepoy has won 10 of his 11 starts, including four times at Group 1 level.

He has not started since winning the Coolmore Stud Stakes at Flemington on Derby Day.

Bel Sprinter resumed from a spell with a one-length win in the 1000m W.J. Adams Stakes at Caulfield on February 4.

It was a victory that pleased Warren particularly because the horse settled early. Bel Sprinter was close to last before he swooped around his rivals.

“That’s what I had always wanted him to do and it suited him,” Warren said. “It was good to see him come back and do what we thought he would. It’s nice when plans work out.”

“The whole exercise of taking him to Caulfield for a first-up run was to get him go round a bend and settle off the speed. It’s nice when plans work out.”

Warren said even the three week stretch between runs was planned.

“It gave him a week to get over the run and then two weeks of training. His work at Mornington on the course proper last Friday was enormous.”