Trainer Kris Lees has strength in numbers as he lines up to claim his first win in the Group 1 $1.25m Seppelt Newmarket Handicap (1200m) at Flemington on Saturday.
Graff, above, is the most fancied of the three Kris Lees trained runners in the 2019 Newmarket Handicap at Flemington. Photo by Steve Hart.
Lees will saddle up Group 1 winners Brave Smash and In Her Time along with exciting three year old Graff and the headline Newcastle trainer is giving all three a great chance.
“I’ve never had a Newmarket runner and now I’ve got three good chances,” Lees told the Herald Sun.
All three runners have drawn on the outside section of the track and Lees can imagine them going to the grandstand side if the huge field splits for the run down the Flemington straight.
“Last year they split with a big field and I’d imagine they would do the same again,” Lees said.
In Her Time broke through for her initial Group 1 win when she handled the Flemington straight with perfection in claiming a nose victory over the James Cummings trained Osborne Bulls in the $750,000 Black Caviar Lightning (1000m) on February 16.
Black Caviar Lightning winning jockey Corey Brown gets the ride again on In Her Time who will jump from barrier fifteen if there are no more scratchings.
Multiple Group 1 winner Brave Smash is yet to win down the Flemington straight but was a nose second to Redkirk Warrior in last year’s Newmarket Handicap while Graff has had one look down the straight for a fourth behind In Her Time in the Black Caviar Lightning.
The Wizard Of The West William Pike gets the ride on Graff who will jump from barrier nineteen while Damien Oliver has the job on Brave Smash who will be scraping paint on the grandstand side fence after drawing the outside gate.
Osborne Bulls has drawn one to the inside of Brave Smash and heads the market order for the Newmarket Handicap at $4 with Ladbrokes.com.au while the lightly weighted Graff is the most fancied of the Lees’ runners at $9 ahead of In Her Time at $13 and Brave Smash at $19.
