Mornington horseman Dean Binaisse does not have the stable strength of the bigger teams like Lindsay Park, Chris Waller and Ciaron Maher who are all regulars in the winner’s circle at Flemington.
It took Binaisse more than 23 years and 67 runners to notch his first Flemington winner when Empressive Enuff scored over the straight 1200m course last month.
Empressive Enuff and Binaisse return to Flemington on Saturday looking for another Flemington victory in the VRC Super Saturday, 9 March Handicap (1200m).
Binaisse said Flemington had become his least favoured track until Empressive Enuff finally got the monkey off the back with his win.
“Fab Fevola ran a couple of seconds there and I’ve had a lot of seconds there, when unlucky, that I ended up hating the place,” Binaisse said.
“And he was the last one that I thought would be my first Flemington winner.”
Empressive Enuff has been a cause of frustration for Binaisse from the beginning.
There was a stage when Racing Victoria threatened to ban the galloper when he proved difficult to get blood from for pre-race testing.
Even getting race day shoes on the gelding requires sedation for the farrier to do his work.
But Binaisse sees the ability in Empressive Enuff, like he did with Fab Fevola who won six sprint races, and Felicia, who provided the trainer with his solitary Stakes win at Caulfield.
“He’s a really tough horse and the only ones I’ve had like him are Felicia and Fab Fevola,” Binaisse said.
“I don’t know whether he will get to those heights, but he’s still got a lot of improvement.
“He’s still not the rounded product yet. He still does a lot wrong and is still learning, believe that or not as a five-year-old after 14 starts.
“He’s a special sort of character. I’ve had a lot of barrier issues with him. He’s just got that many tricks.”
To keep Empressive Enuff on a winning program, Binaisse took the gelding to Stawell on January 5 to score over 1300m.
A lesser horse with the temperament of Empressive Enuff may not have handled the occasion.
The Stawell meeting was delayed after apprentice Sarah Field was injured in a mounting yard incident.
“We were there for three-and-a-half hours before he raced,” Binaisse said.
“When we wanted to saddle him, he didn’t want to go into the stalls and was running over the top of us.
“I thought he was cooked, but we dried him down with a towel, got the saddle on him, then he walked around in the yard like a kid’s pony.
“That’s the type of horse he is, he’s just wired differently.
“Jack Hill got off him that day and said he should have won by six (lengths), but he hit the front and waited for them, so there’s plenty of ability there.
“Obviously, this race is harder, but he looks a treat, and his work on the grass on Tuesday was super.”