Speaker 1Now we're about to speak to a trainer who has the odds on favourite in the midway at Randwick on Saturday. Lightly race tours, building a big fan base very quickly is four-year-old gelding Baron Gary. And we've got trainer Joe Ible on the phone. How are you going, Joe?
Speaker 2Yeah, good, Paul. How are you?
Speaker 1I'm great. Thanks for asking. Beautiful day up here in Brisbane as we charge in towards the weekend. And of course, racing up and down the eastern seaboard is just magnificent at this time of year. And everyone plays a part and you're playing your part with Baron Gary. He's been backed into odds on with tabs since markets were first posted for this meeting on Saturday in the midway. He'd have to be a stable favourite, wouldn't he?
Speaker 2Yeah, absolutely. I think he's building a good record and he's a lovely horse to go with it. So definitely a stable favourite.
Speaker 1He's only had the one run back. He picked up a midway there at around the $5 quote. As soon as the prices went up for this week, they jumped in from everywhere. So he's come on well since that first up.
Speaker 2Yeah, I think he just won his benefit out of it. He went into that race needing the run. And I think he's taken the requisite benefit. He's come on in the coach and I'm really happy with how he looks heading into Saturday.
Speaker 1I mean, he's a horse that has had six starts for three wins, which is a lovely little record to build. But probably a lot of people don't realise until you go back through his form. He wasn't far off Matthias in the Group 3 Packer plate at the end of his last prep.
Speaker 2Yeah, he ran a nice race. That day in the Packer plate, he was probably at the end of his preparation. So we didn't get to see where he was fully at. But it turned out to be quite a handy form race with the Derby winner coming out of it as well in Queensland.
Speaker 1It's been a super form race. And, you know, you're coming back from Group 3s to benchmark 72 midways. So no surprise the first up win. Obviously some improvement to come. You've got 60.5 on Saturday, but you're also stepping out to the mile at Randwick, which he should absolutely eat up, shouldn't he?
Speaker 2Yeah, I'm really looking forward. To getting him back to the mile where he needs to be. And, you know, I thought he was vulnerable first up 1400 and thought he'd run a really nice race and then build into the mile. So going there very confidently, he's fit and ready for that distance.
Speaker 1You get Zach Lloyd to ride. I mean, he's having the best season he's had so far, which was hard to top considering how well he went last season. So, I mean, you must be going into the race brimming with confidence. I mean, you never want to be overconfident, but surely you're thinking this is just a next step.
Speaker 2Yeah. Absolutely. It looked a lovely progression for him immediately following that other midway. I guess we had the choice to do we step up to the benchmark 88 mile on the day or to keep him in midway grade. And I think we elected just to keep with the restricted grade and cop the weight.
Speaker 1Which leads into my next question, because you're probably one win away from being out of midway company as far as the weights are concerned. What's sort of in store for in this preparation? Is it run by run or is there something there you can see down the track?
Speaker 2It is run by run at this stage, and we just want him to progress up through the distance and through his grades. But a race that I've got in mind for him, the Rose Hill Gold Cup is probably a little bit of a target race. If he can step out to the 2000 and be effective, that might be a race for him a little bit later in the carnival.
Speaker 1That looks like a perfect race going forward for him, Joe. What about any other horses in the stable? Is there anything floating around that might be ready to pick up a sort of a country? A maiden that the punters can scribble into the black book?
Speaker 2I did have one on Tuesday that won a country maiden, so not him anymore. I think a horse he's going to the races on probably on Sunday at Nauru is called the Hard Road. Only two starts last preparation. He went quite well in both. He'll be first up at Nauru on Sunday over 1200. I think when he steps out to 1400 second up, he could be going close to breaking his maiden.
Speaker 1The Hard Road. There you go. A four-year-old gelding by Supido. He's only had the two starts punters. So there's maybe a sneaky one if you want to have a bet on Sunday, as I'm sure most punters do. As much as we love our Group 1 racing on a Saturday, there's nothing better than popping down the local on a Sunday and just having a few sneakies. So the Hard Road is one Joe thinks might run some sort of race there on Sunday and certainly one we can follow going forward. But if you are playing on Saturday, odds on favourite in the midway on Saturday is Baron Gary. All right, Joe. Best of luck on Saturday. Best of luck with the whole team. Doing a great job. And yeah, let's hope this horse can keep flying the flag. for right through the spring.
Speaker 2Thank you very much.
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