A tough and ultra-consistent four-year-old at big odds is set to shake the life out of the Listed feature sprint at Canterbury on New Year’s day.
Spywire, a son of multiple Group 1 winner Trapeze Artist in the Ciaron Maher stable, faces his toughest test yet in the $200,000 Canterbury Sprint over 1200m.
Racing returns to Canterbury on Thursday.Credit: Jenny Evans
Three weeks after unluckily missing by a neck in a Magic Millions feature for three- and four-year-olds at Wyong, Spywire reloads for his long list of owners over the same trip.
Prior to that either side of a spell, Spywire had saluted in a Class 3 at Doomben before claiming a BM 78 at Kembla in late November, and testament to his forward and almost bullet-proof pattern, you have to go back 12 months to find the last time he missed a place.
He now presents as one of several value runners likely to command market support in what is a high-quality and very open New Year’s day field.
Smart four-year-old King’s Secret, third-up and chasing a fourth win from his last five starts for the Joe Pride stable, opened around a $3.90 favourite.
The most intriguing runner, though, is high-class five-year-old The Instructor returning for his first outing since finishing just behind the placegetters in the Group 1 Stradbroke Hcp over 1400m at Eagle Farm in mid-June.
Before that, the sparingly raced son of Russian Revolution in the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott stable at Randwick had won three from four, including two at Listed level in NSW and Victoria.
He resumes having bolted in the second of two progressive trials, and boasting a 40 per cent winning strike rate from 18 starts.
