October Date ready for bold return at Morphettville for trainer Nick Smart
IT’S a case of once bitten, twice shy for trainer Nick Smart when his gifted gelding October Date returns to racing at Morphettville on Saturday.
There have been times when Smart has confidently predicted October Date was ready to run the race of his life, only for the enigmatic gelding to deliver a too-bad-to-be-true performance.
So it’s understandable Smart is treading more warily in the lead-up to Saturday’s $42,000 UBET Handicap.
“He didn’t really come up at all last prep and the prep before that finished in pretty disappointing fashion, too,” Smart said.
“I’m just going to be happy to see him back out there and hopefully get back to doing something close to what he used to be able to do.
“He’s got a few little issues but I think I’m on top of them this time around.
“I’m very hopeful. Obviously he’s a horse with very nice ability but we just haven’t been able to get it out of him for 12 months.”
October Date hasn’t raced since a disastrous two-race campaign in the autumn when he finished closer to last than first in both races.
The five-year-old, a soft trial winner at Morphettville on October 24, had another solid hitout at the start of the week to tighten him up for Saturday’s 1600m mission.
“We actually went up to Strathalbyn on Monday for another jumpout because he didn’t do anything in that trial. He came back in like he hadn’t been out there,” the Morphettville horseman said.
“I just felt he needed another little trip away to top him off.
“Everything he’s doing in the mornings is suggesting he should be back somewhere close to what we know he can do. But until he produces it on race day I’m not getting ahead of myself.”
Smart also hopes the 1600m trip of the race will give October Date every chance to race to his potential.
“I’m doing it a little different this time around by being first-up over a mile,” he said.
“There should be a little less pressure and it’ll let him get back and allow him to switch off. I think that’s when he races best — when he really switches off and can unleash that turn of foot that he has.”
October Date, to be ridden by in-form jockey Jamie Kah, is rated a $6 chance in UBET fixed-odds markets.
ben.scadden@news.com.au
Originally published as Date’s right for bold return at Morphettville