Captain Moore ready for Vicbred semi

Captain Moore (Soho Lanikai) has made it to Saturday night’s second semi-final of the Always B Miki Vicbred Super Series two-year-old colts and geldings after a front-running harness racing performance saw him win the third heat at Bendigo last week.

Trainer-driver Michael Stanley has been happy with the pacers work since the August 28 heat.

“He has pulled up really good and he is super,” Stanley, from Burrumbeet, said.

“He had shown that he had really good ability early on and we gave him a couple of starts and put him away, and set him for the series (Vicbred).

“He had nice trial leading up to the heat and having a good 10-day break is really good for him.”

The Vicbred finals are scheduled for the September 14th. The short seven-day turn around shouldn’t bother the colt out of Our Chelsea Girl.

“That won’t bother him (the turnaround) as we saw, he is a tough little customer and he did plenty of work early and still wanted to stave off the challengers (in the heat),” the 43-year-old said.

“He is a really good doing horse and he eats well and he looks after himself.”

Stanley named the colt after 2023 Collingwood premiership captain, Darcy Moore.

“My daughters and I are both Collingwood supporters,” he said. “This horse is the first one we have ever bred as a family.

“Myself and my older daughter were lucky enough to be at the grand final last year and hence how he got his name.”  

The colt by Soho Lanikai has drawn six for the 2240m event.

“He had a wide barrier for the heat, we will have the same tactics,” Stanley said. “With Fox Dan (five) and It’s Confidential (two) drawing inside of us, it’s made things a little bit tricky.

“We will go forward and he shows plenty of strength – so if we have to sit outside the leader, sometimes to get through to these finals you are better off staying out of trouble rather than staying in the pack and things not going your way.”

The $20,000 second semi-final for the two-year-old colts and geldings is set to go at 9.40pm with the Group 1 showdowns scheduled for the following Saturday (Sep 14) at Melton Entertainment Park.

by Lachlan Mitchell, for Harness Racing Victoria