14-race winless streak could be broken

A 14-race winless streak could be broken at Bendigo on Saturday night for Brandlo Prince, but trainer Chris Svanosio admits much will have to fall into place for his down-in-class trotter to take the honours.

One of two Svanosio entrants in the Haras Des Trotteurs Trot, both of which are leased from the race sponsor Yabby Dam Farms, Brandlo Prince will be partnered by reinswoman Tayla French, whose five-point concession claim enabled him to slip into the 70-79 rated race.

Svanosio told this week’s edition of Burning Questions that French was “really going to have to put him in the race at the right time to be able to win” from outside second row.

“Obviously he’s out of the draw through his own errors a couple of weeks ago at Melton,” Svanosio said.

“But three starts ago he ran second in the free for all against some of our top trotters, so it’s definitely a class drop for him.”

The trainer will steer Norquay from gate 11, and while they’re priced similarly in markets Svanosio was effusive about who was his best chance.

“Brandlo Prince is the better horse, Norquay was quite good last week against our best mares,” he told Burning Questions. “Both of them were back last in their last races at Melton, a mile off the lead and worked home as good as they could.

“I’d say Brandlo Prince is a bit better horse at this stage than Norquay.”

Fellow Burning Questions panellist Andy Gath, who has Morgan Mylee in the same race, agreed that Brandlo Price was the class runner of the field.

“Definitely a big drop down in class for Brandlo Prince, he’s been out of the winner’s stall for his last 14 starts, but a lot of those runs were against a lot better quality horse than these,” Gath said.

“I think he’s the one to beat. There are a lot of horses in the race who are going well, but his best is better than all of these in my opinion and if he produces it he’s going to be the one to beat even though he’s drawn poorly.”

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By Michael Howard for HRV