Fresh Tambo Back and On a Sprint Mission

Premiership leading trainer Georgie Holt has ditched staying plans and will chase feature sprint races this winter with promising gelding Tambo’s Justice.

The stable rolled the dice with the Justify gelding in last year’s Townsville Cup, but he failed to stay the 2000m.

Almost a year on and Holt has switched the five-year-old’s preparation to a sprinting program to keep him sharper for a possible Cleveland Bay Hcp goal.

And she has targeted Sunday’s The Ville Chairman’s Sprint (1200m) at Cluden for the gelding’s return to racing from a four month spell.

The feature offers the winner an automatic start in the Cleveland Bay Hcp (1300m), the north’s richest sprint, on August 8.

Tambo’s Justice is prominent in early markets for Sunday with an ideal draw in barrier two, 54kg minimum weight and jockey Ash Butler flying in for the ride.

“I was very happy with his trial last week. I think he’s come back in good shape and should get every chance.” Holt said.

“We’ve changed things with him this prep to keep him a bit sharper to target those races around the 1300m to 1400m. That seems to be his sweet spot.

“He’s tricky to place because the mile sees him out.

“I’d like to have a crack at the Cleveland Bay over the 1300m but it’s a bit unknown with him this prep.

“Everything lines up pretty well for him on Sunday. He’s good fresh, he has a light weight and Ash aboard from a good draw.”

“He’ll have to get his rating up to get a run in the Cleveland Bay so the ideal situation is to win a ballot free race - that takes the stress out of it.”

Tambo’s Justice made a rapid rise through the classes going into last year’s Townsville carnival, winning six of his first seven starts before failing in both the Winter Cup and Townsville Cup over 2000m.

The gelding had a short summer campaign which yielded two placings in open class at Cluden and a fourth and fifth at Doomben in a short Brisbane sojourn.

Sunday’s Chairman’s Sprint is a tough first-up assignment.

The field is headed by classy veteran Speed Legend (66kg), with Valenki, Hellish, Russian Mint and Lean Eagle all in top form.

Holt will go into the meeting with the Townsville premiership all but wrapped up with 27 wins and a 11 win lead over defending title holder Stephen Massingham.

And husband Aidan has enjoyed a stand out season in the saddle.

He has landed 24 winners at Cluden and is second in the premiership standings behind Ryan Wiggins on 30 wins.

“It’s been a good season for us considering our numbers have dropped recently. We haven’t had many runners over the past few meetings and things have been a bit quiet,” Georgie Holt said.

“But we’ve been consistent throughout the year and that’s been good.

“We’ve got some good chances on Sunday. I think Tambo and Storm Capital (Channel 7 Hcp) would be my top two.”

Meanwhile, The Massingham-trained Kureder will continue his carnival build-up in the Ladbrokes Winter Cup (2000m), a key lead-up to the Townsville Cup on August 8.

The feature staying race offers the winner an automatic Cup start and has attracted 12 carnival hopefuls.

Kureder, a dual Brisbane winner in the summer, heads the weights with 60kg and steps up to his favoured distance.