Ray Hickson
Itโs far from a glorious set-up but co-trainer Greg Lee is looking for a glorious return to racing by a horse he sees group 1 potential in at Warwick Farm on Wednesday.
The horse in question is Glorious Moments and Lee, and co-trainer brother Jim, will be banking on the talent heโs seeing in the gelding shining through from an outside alley in the Asahi Super Dry Handicap (1100m).
Itโll be his first run since posting successive wins last winter by dominant margins as his campaign was cut short when he required a minor bone chip operation and his return was further delayed when having to miss his planned first-up run earlier this month.
โHe had a small chip on a joint, on the side not in the knee, so we had that taken out and instead of giving him three months we decided to give him a bit longer,โ Lee said.
โIt was only a minor thing that made us not run the other day, but it was enough to say we shouldnโt go ahead.
โHeโs good as gold. I think heโs the best horse weโve had since Hayai, and weโve had some good horses. I think he could win a Doncaster.โ
Glorious Moments trialled twice in open company in April, placing behind Beiwacht in the first and then Zealously, and James McDonald steered him around in a tick-over trial last Friday.
โJames gave him an easy trial and he was very happy with him, and I was happy with him,โ Lee said.
Given he sees Glorious Moments as a classy miler in the making, Lee hopes the outside barrier plays to his advantage with the sting out of the track over the shorter trip first-up as his two wins to date have come over 1250m and 1300m.
The four-year-old is not small so it could work against him if he needed to be dug up to hold a spot from an inside barrier.
โHeโs better off out there, thereโs only one corner and theyโll probably all head out that way and heโs already there,โ he said.
โI am thinking much higher things for him so he would want to win. Heโs a big horse and the weight wonโt worry him.โ
If Glorious Moments performs to the trainerโs hopes heโll be headed for Queensland.
Best Bets: Race 3 (7) Hello Captain; Race 4 (11) Superfabulistic
Best Value: Race 2 (1) Portico.
Supplied by Racing NSW
