Trainers Tony and Calvin McEvoy will follow the lead of one of Australia’s training immortals with imported galloper Concorde, who makes his local debut at Sandown on Saturday
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The Lindsay Park patriarch used to give stable imports one or two winter runs to help them acclimatise to their new surroundings before spelling them again before the spring.
That approach landed Hayes two Melbourne Cups with Beldale Ball and At Talaq, a Cox Plate with Almaarad and many other feature winners for international owners Sheikh Hamdan, Sheikh Mohammed and Robert Sangster.
McEvoy, who himself trained more than 900 winners for the Lindsay Park operation, said Concorde would have a short winter campaign before a break.
“It worked for him,” McEvoy said of Hayes’s method.
“He just needs a run or two now then he’ll go back to the paddock and get ready for the spring.
“He just needs to learn about Australian racing now and see where he takes us but I like the horse. We’ll just let the horse do the talking, get his rating up and see where it takes him.”
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The late Colin Hayes had a fine record with imported gallopers, including two Melbourne Cup wins and a Cox Plate triumph.
Concorde won four of 10 starts in England at distances between 1600m and 2000m, but finished third over 2514m at his last start before his previous owners sold him at a horses in training sale.
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Concorde will start his Australian career over 1600m in the Quayclean Handicap but McEvoy wondered whether that distance might be too short for the four-year-old.
“He’ll need further,” McEvoy said.
“But he’s worked up nicely, trialled up nicely and I like him. He’s a nice style of horse. He’s not an out and out stayer but he’s more like a mile to 2000m horse and he needs a bit of soft ground.”
Concorde opened at $5 on Wednesday but TAB has eased the gelding’s price to $6 in the first 24 hours’ betting on the Sandown meeting.
Harry Coffey will ride Concorde at Sandown.
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