The training partnership of Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr is set to unleash a formidable three-pronged assault on a three-year-old race at Caulfield Heath.
The lightly raced trio of Brazen Dechambeau, Commit, and Dustee will compete against each other in The Vally @ Caulfield Handicap, a 1200-metre event scheduled for Saturday.
All three horses are heading into the second week of the new racing season with previous starts under their belts, and Price is optimistic that all of them possess the potential to advance beyond Saturday metropolitan grade.
Price indicated that he would be in a better position to assess whether that level means Stakes company following Saturday’s race.
Brazen Dechambeau is now embarking on his third racing preparation.
He finished in the midfield on his debut at Flemington on Melbourne Cup Day last year before being sent for a spell, returning to secure a victory at Pakenham in early January.
Following a spell after that win, Brazen Dechambeau finished fifth over 1100 metres at Caulfield on July 25, and Price anticipates that the increased distance will be advantageous on Saturday.
“He’s a good horse and he wants every inch of 1200 metres,” Price stated. “He needed the run the other day and I think there will be good improvement.”
Commit is contesting Saturday’s race as the third start of his current preparation.
He defeated his stablemate Dustee at Sale on June 28 before finishing third behind the highly rated American Eagle at Sandown on July 15.
American Eagle, who has had only that solitary start, is among the nominations for the Cox Plate for trainers Anthony and Sam Freedman.
Price is hoping Commit can adopt a more prominent position in the run on Saturday, having been slow to leave the barriers at Sandown.
“That was not my preferred option to be out the back on him, but he was a little bit slow away and he gave away a good start,” Price commented. “He was very good late and he’s capable of being a nice, metropolitan Saturday horse. He’s pretty cherry ripe.”
Price remarked that Dustee has shown development through racing and additional training, describing the gelding as ‘tough’.
Dustee struggled to find his rhythm in the initial run of his campaign at Bendigo but has since recorded a second-place finish at Sale before achieving his maiden win at Seymour.
“Alana Kelly rode him at Bendigo,” Price explained. “He went around very green, like he was switched off, for whatever reason, so I put the blinkers on him, did some genuine solid work with him and that turned him. He’ll show up. He worked good on Saturday morning.”
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