By Glenn Davis
Trainer Matt Dunn is still “ready to party” at Doomben on Saturday despite losing his star sprinter Care To Think from the $1.3m The Kosciuszko.
Care To Think was ruled out of The Kosciuszko with an elevated temperature on Wednesday.
Dunn also has four runners entered for Doomben and has named Ready To Party as the pick of his quartet.
Ready To Party, a $140,000 buy at the Magic Millions sales, will tackle the QTIS Two-Year-Old Handicap (1050m) at Doomben and will be ridden by Mark Du Plessis.
“He (Ready To Party) is the best of my runners at Doomben,” Dunn said.
“Doomben is a bit like Sydney with rain around but I think Ready To Party is a great chance.
“He’ll have this run and then spell before being aimed for the Magic Millions.”
Ready To Party, a son of More Than Ready, has impressed in two barriers trials when he ran second at the Gold Coast on September 11 before winning at Doomben two weeks later.
Ready To Party is part-owned by Dunn’s wife Keira in an all-female ownership making the colt eligible for the $500,000 Magic Millions Women In Racing bonus if successful in the Magic Millions Classic at the Gold Coast in January.
Ready To Party’s stablemate Cubix also won a barrier trial at the Gold Coast ahead of his debut.
Meanwhile Dunn remains hopeful Snitz can win The Kosciuszko despite a heavy track rating for Randwick.
Snitz made his comeback finishing third to the Barry Lockwood-trained Fiery Heights at Doomben on September 28.
“He went down by a small margin in his first-up run at Doomben and that was by design,” Dunn said.
“He wasn’t fully wound up as I left something in the tank for The Kosciuszko.
“It’s going to be a rain-affected track but he’s won on soft and hard tracks.
“He’s quite adaptable and is a quality horse. He’s a great chance and is well over the odds.”
Racing Queensland webnews October 12