Lochinvar likely to wait

By Adam Hamilton

FANS will have to wait a bit longer again for the first clash between Australia’s two most exciting pacers Ride High and Lochinvar Art.

Ride High heads to Terang for next Saturday night’s $30,000 Gammalite, but it’s now very unlikely Lochinvar Art will join him.

“I’ll nominate him and make a final decision first thing Tuesday, but my gut feel is that it’s not the right thing to do with him,” Lochinvar Art’s trainer driver David Moran said.

“I feel bad for the great people at the Terang club, who have boosted the prizemoney and done everything right, but the Victoria Cup is the goal and everything I do has to be around peaking him for that in five weeks or so.

“Giving him a 9-10 hour road trip for a mile race against Ride High right now … it’s a risk. And it could be a gut-buster.

“He’s not quite ready to go to war yet, but give him a couple more runs and he will be.”

It sounds clear Lochinvar Art will stay home this week and go to a free-for-all at Bendigo a week later (September 19).

“If we wait for Bendigo, it’ll probably be the first of four runs in as many weeks for him,” Moran said. “That’d be ideal. He thrives on the hard racing close together.”

Moran kept Lochinvar Art up the mark with a slick workout between races at Shepparton last night.

Chasing a galloping pacemaker, Lochinvar Art dawdled the first part of the 2190m workout, but Moran really stepped it up with a his last mile in a tick over 1min52sec, the last half in 53.2 and closing quarter in 26.4sec.

“He felt terrific, but racing will bring him on even more. It’s about mapping out the best way towards the Victoria Cup with him now,” Moran said.