Second Sydney chance for St Lawrence

[Wandering Eyes]

While there was a lot number of disappointed people the Randwick meeting last Saturday was called off, there was possibly no more so than Victorian trainer Gavin Bedggood.

The Bedggood-trained St Lawrence (NZ) (Redwood) was down to run in the Premier’s Cup Prelude (1800m) on Saturday but after a deluge of rain on Friday night, the majority of the meeting was abandoned.

One race that was not was the Premier’s Cup Prelude which has been shifted to the Kensington track on Wednesday with all scratchings from Saturday reinstated and run over the same distance.

Bedggood noted St Lawrence would have been one of seven runners had the race gone ahead on Saturday on the gelding’s preferred heavy ground.

Already there are six scratchings for Wednesday’s race with the field still remaining two over the safety limit of 12.

Bedggood said transferring the race to Wednesday was not ideal, but the gelding will run.

“He had done all his work around running on Saturday, but it is what is and he’s already up there,” Bedggood said.

“We’re not going to get wet ground down here, I don’t think.

“So, we’ll take our chance and the move to the Kensington might discourage a few of those better horses from stepping out and they might look for another option.

“After all the scratchings, the field fell away to a field of seven, and I thought he was a great chance, but it was a very hard race to read.

“There was a lot of horses that are early in their campaigns, a lot of horses from the same stable, so it was a bit of a raffle.

“I’m not all over the form up there, so, for me, it was a hard race to read.”

Bedggood will break new ground on Wednesday when St Lawrence is the trainer’s first runner on the Kensington circuit.

“I’ve never seen the Kensington track,” Bedggood said.

“I know it’s an assistance to be up near the speed , so we’ll see what it (the race) looks like once the final scratchings come through and what sort of field we are left with.”

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