Single Gaze right ahead of Caulfield debut

Canberra trainer Nick Olive says pint-sized Single Gaze deserves a better ranking in the betting than her price suggests ahead of the $1 million Memsie Stakes.

Single Gaze has her first run back following a successful Brisbane campaign in Saturday’s Group One race over 1400m at Caulfield.

Olive has had Single Gaze in Melbourne for nearly two weeks preparing her for a Melbourne campaign, leaving nothing to chance.

First part of the assignment was to get Single Gaze acclimatised to her Caulfield stabling while as part of her fitness regime the five-year-old has participated in two 800m jump-outs at the track to prime her for her return.

Single Gaze is currently a $41 chance having firmed from $51 with some operators earlier in the week.

Betting on the Memsie Stakes is being dominated by the Lindsay Park-trained Vega Magic who is the $2.70 favourite ahead of Le Romain at $5.50 with Black Heart Bart and Hey Doc at $6.

“I’m not expecting her to win on Saturday but I’m expecting her to run a better race than that of a 50-1 chance,” Olive said.

Single Gaze may be on the small side but Olive has learned to deal with the mare’s diminutive stature.

He says she’s treated just like any other horse in his stable.

“She pretty much holds her condition all the way through her preparation,” Oliver said.

“She’ll tighten up a little bit more but she’ll maintain most of it as she eats well.

“You wouldn’t want to feed her too much more otherwise she’d get away on you.

“She’s only little but she’s got a nice long stride and she’s tough, which is probably the main thing.”

Olive said Single Gaze needed racing at the beginning of her last campaign which came 10 months after her fall in Australian Oaks.

However Olive pointed out the mare ran second at the beginning of her previous campaign in the Surround Stakes at Randwick.

“Her last preparation she was off a long break but I thought she ran a good race in the Millie Fox under not great weight conditions,” Olive said.

Credit: AAP

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