Berkeley’s Ballarat Back-Up
Story by Kate Watts – Racing.com
Chasing his first Ballarat Cup win, trainer Dan O’Sullivan has confirmed stayer Berkeley Square will back up into his hometown feature on Saturday.
Deep into his spring campaign, the five-year-old made up good ground last Saturday, running into the placings in the Group 2 Zipping Classic (2400m).
“He’s bounced through his last start on Saturday fantastic,” O’Sullivan said.
“From the next day he’d eaten up well and he was nice and bright.
“Given that, it would be pretty hard to not go to a $500,000, 2000-metre race in your own backyard, so it ended up a pretty easy decision to make.”
Now eighth-up for the preparation, O’Sullivan says he thinks the ultra-consistent gelding will appreciate racing on his home track, for the first time, at his 26th career start.
“He’s such a big horse and his pattern of getting back means he needs things to go right with certain tactics and certain tempo and the big Ballarat track should suit,” he said.
Jockey Luke Nolen was aboard the son of Territories last start and will stick with him on Saturday.
“Luke was very pleased with the way the horse found the line,” O’Sullivan said.
“He actually suggested to me that I should think about backing him up.
“The first two home were both quality horses and they had a very comfortable run in front, we had to make up a lot of ground from the back in the field that he was able to do.
“This weekend will be a tough test again taking on some of the horses earlier in their preps, stepping up from the Eclipse over 1800m and this has been a target race for many of them and they could possibly peak on the day.
“Whereas we have to come back from 2400m to 2000m, so we’ve got to make sure we get our job done right.
“These races are never easy to win, but it would mean a lot if we could win a Ballarat Cup.”
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