Dubai or bust for Hay List
The Sunday Age
Sunday February 20, 2011
HAY List's exasperated trainer, John McNair, won't keep bashing his head against a brick wall in a fruitless bid to beat Black Caviar.The Gosford-based handler yesterday declared Peter Moody's flying mare "a freak" and said that if he can't beat her at home, he might have to take his big gelding overseas.McNair said he would wait and see the weights for next month's group 1 $1 million Newmarket Handicap before deciding on Hay List's next target, but he would only run his galloper in the 1200-metre Flemington classic if he thought he had a chance of turning the tables on the champion mare."She'll have to give him weight, won't she," he said. "The Golden Shaheen is a race he could go for, but we will have to see what the weights for the Newmarket are."The Golden Shaheen is a 1200-metre sprint at Dubai's World Cup meeting in late March at the new Meydan circuit. It is run on an artificial surface."I came here confident today. He was fit and well, so there are no excuses. She's a freak," McNair said.
© 2011 The Sunday Age
