Dual Gr1 winning Sprinter ATOMIC FORCE will head back to the races for the first start this preparation in the Gr2 Weight-For-Age CHALLENGE STAKES at Warwick Farm.
“TOMMY” was one of 15 nominations for the high quality sprint over the 1000m trip.
Whilst this distance is a bit short of his pet trip at 1100m, the way the horse has been working leading in suggests he will be very competitive under the WFA scale.
The Challenge Stakes was identified months ago as the common sense kick off to the preparation as we aim to be at our fitness peak to take on The Galaxy at Rosehill on 30 March. We will need to be with the thought suggesting we will be taking on the best sprinters in Australasia in that event.
We briefly flirted with the idea to run in Melbourne last weekend in the Gr1 Newmarket first up but a testing barrier trial with Hugh Bowman in the saddle two weeks ago identified we were a little short in fitness to take on the hard 1200m up the straight in Melbourne however we would be right on the mark for the 1000m at WFA seven days later so we took this route.
With the chance of showers later in the week and on Saturday and the prospect of a damp surface at the Farm on Saturday, the thought of Atomic Force commencing here becomes more enticing.
Last week Atomic Force was also nominated for the Kris Flyer in Singapore, the international Gr1 Sprint over 1200m in May.
Nash Rawiller was booked weeks ago to ride Tommy in the Challenge Stakes but a suspension incurred last week cost him the opportunity to remain in partnership with our Sprint Star.
However we were thrilled to have on stand-by outstanding young gun rider TOMMY BERRY who had ridden the horse in an exhibition gallop at Newcastle a few weeks ago.
To have Tommy on Tommy is a coup and we are excited about our prospects heading into the race.
Atomic Force has been doing plenty of work to be ready for this assignment first up, after an injury sustained in NZ during the running of the Gr1 Telegraph Stakes plagued his Spring Carnival and forced us to abort that preparation. However there have been no signs of the injury flaring up again this preparation and his trackwork has been excellent leading into the 16th March. Most importantly, our heavy set sprinter is just a touch over his ideal fighting weight. He was weighted again on Saturday morning before his track gallop, tipping the scales at 535kgs just 4 kilos over his ideal weight. With Saturday’s work and his next fastwork on Tuesday, he will be ideally placed heading to the city on Saturday. Darren has stated he has never had the horse "sounder" leading into a preparation which is an ominous sign for our connections and competitors alike.
From the 15 nominations, the quality of the race is assured, with wonderful racehorses including Gerald Ryan’s last start Gr1 Winner MRS ONASSIS heading this way along with boom 3yo filly SNITZERLAND who gets in well under the WFA conditions. Other high quality gallopers such as Peter Moody’s GOLDEN ARCHER, Clarry Conners DECISION TIME, Joe Pride’s TIGER TEES and Con Karakatsanis HOWMUCHDOYALOVEME all engaged and along with the others that have been nominated, it promises to be an exciting and very quick race. Whilst we were disappointed not to see HAY LIST in the nominations, to test Atomic Force against, the rumour mill had been working overtime for several weeks that may be the case however a Late Nomination was received from his trainer. It will be interesting to see if he turns up on the day. It will be good for the sport if he does.