Austin backs Looks Like Elvis after off-key performance
Trainer Jarrod Austin is adamant there’s a win in Looks Like Elvis this preparation and is hoping jockey Nash Rawiller can weave some magic on the luckless galloper at Hawkesbury in Thursday.
A wet track and a wide barrier isn’t the scenario Austin would choose for the six-year-old in the listed $150,000 Lander Toyota Ladies Day Cup (1600m), but he has the spring carnival form on the board to suggest there are positives.
Stablemates Looks Like Elvis, left, and Carluca have good prospects at Hawkesbury today.Credit:Getty
Looks Like Elvis was placed in the group 2 Shannon Stakes after a wide run in September and went down swinging beaten 1.7 lengths in the group 1 Epsom before a last-start failure in the Spring Mile on Everest Day that Austin is striking from the record.
“I thought perhaps we took him back to the races a bit quickly,’’ he said.
“He had a bee in his bonnet before the race. Everything was going according to plan, but when they got into position the speed slackened off quite noticeably.
“He got overracing, and once he started doing that he just didn’t want to come back.”
He finished seventh to Purple Sector but, importantly, Austin said Looks Like Elvis came through the run in very good shape. By the time the race is run, he said, it may be advantageous to be drawn off the track.
“He came through the run super and pulled up well, so I just think you forget about the run and move forward,’’ he said.
“I’m not overly happy with the barrier or prospect of a heavy track, but we can’t help those things.
“You breathe a little easier knowing Nash is on board; he’s riding in super form and we’ll leave it up to him.”
It’s likely Austin will press on to the $1m The Gong (1600m) at Kembla Grange on November 21 if the horse wins or runs well at Hawkesbury.
Stablemate Carluca is a nine-year-old but continues to race well and Austin is expecting another honest performance in the Fowler Civil Contracting Handicap (1600m).
He’s a Hawkesbury specialist who was beaten a length by a progressive horse called Wairere Falls at the October 22 meeting.
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