Massingham banks on shades to lift Lean Eagle in Ladies’ Day feature

Massingham banks on shades to lift Lean Eagle in Ladies’
Day feature
Trainer Stephen Massingham has played one final ace to conjure a
return to form for high spirited gelding Lean Eagle in the Ladbrokes
Cape Cleveland (1300m) on Ladies’ Day at Cluden Park on Saturday.
Massingham has prescribed blinkers for the first time for the smart
sprinter after two below par performances from the one time big race
fancy.
“I reckon he’s been having a lend of me,” Massingham said.
“He’s just been lobbing along out the back and just not putting in like we
know he can.
“The blinkers go on this week. I’ve been wanting to put blinkers on him
for ages and I’ve bitten the bullet until now.
“On his best form he’s a Cleveland Bay horse every day of the week but
he’s dropped off in those past couple.
“The other day at Cairns when he ran third he just got out the back and
was lobbing along and Ryan said he had to ride him really hard to get
him interested.
“The blinkers go on to get him to concentrate and hopefully it does the
trick.
“But he’d have to win and win well to back up in the Cleveland Bay Hcp
next week.
“I’ve got a top Cleveland Bay runner in Speed Legend, who’s flying, so
I’m not so worried about that.”
The six-year-old son of Lean Mean Machine has been a model of
consistency with seven wins and seven placings from 14 starts.
He resumed from a long spell this time in with a brilliant win over 1000m
at Cluden in April and followed up with a fast finishing second in the
Mackay Lightning in June.
But an unplaced run at Cluden and a plain third in Cairns in July threw a
spanner in the works for the Massingham camp.

Townsville premiership jockey and stable rider Ryan Wiggins is again in
the saddle and Massingham is hoping the blinkers will see a sharp form
improvement.
The Cairns-based trainer is warning punters not to under-estimate his
light weight runner Line ‘Em Up Louis who will be ridden by 3kg claiming
apprentice Amy Graham.
The tough Dissident gelding is eligible for easier class but has earned
his crack at open grade after two wins at Cluden and back-to-back
victories in Mackay.
“Don’t worry, with 51kg he could take a bit of rolling. He races on speed
and he just wants to win.
“It’s a tougher class test for him but from barrier 2 he should either lead
or sit handy and I think he’ll run very well.”
Massingham will saddle up 13 runners on the day and expects to play a
strong hand in the other two features – the Clipsal Lightning (1000m)
with Blue Stratum and Almighty Jad and The Ville Mayor’s Cup (1609m)
with Canberra Legend.
“I think we’ve got good chances in all three of the main races. Blue
Stratum drops from 63.5kg at his last start to 54kg and I expect him to
be right in the finish,’ Massingham said.
“Almighty Jab is a horse who is suited by a fast pace and with any sort of
luck he’s capable of knocking them over.
“It’s a tough race with Yes Dream, last year’s winner Russian Mint and
Mind Over Matter is there down on the light weight.
“But my two are going well too and they’re ready.”
Canberra Legend is the stable’s sole runner in the Mayor’s Cup and
goes into the race after an eye-catching fourth in the HL Black Memorial
in Mackay behind Journalism who came out a week later and won the
Cup.
Massingham, who trains for leading owner Tom Hedley, won last year’s
Cluden trainers’ premiership but had to settle for second to Townsville’s
Georgie Holt for this year’s title after a leaner season.
He’s confident the stable is set to fire over this week’s Townsville Cup
carnival.

“It has been a quiet year for sure. I trained 43 winners all up this year -15
less than last year - but we still broke the million dollar mark in
prizemoney and not many can do it,” he said.
“Coming into the carnivals we’ve got some nice horses there. We’ve got
a good team for this weekend and on Cup Day we’ve got Smart Legend
and Speed Legend, in the two features and I’d like to think we’ll go close
in one those.”