Size and Prebble will team up in the HK$16 million G1 Champions Mile with Contentment, a G1 winner last season when taking out the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup (1400m) but unable to make a mark this term.
Contentment makes a G1 breakthrough in last year’s Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup.
The Hussonet six-year-old has raced nine times this season for one top three finish, but, despite failing to match his best so far, the Australian-bred has maintained an admirable level of consistency in finishing just behind the principals in most of his outings. Last time, however, Contentment was a below-par three and three quarter lengths sixth to Rapper Dragon in the G2 Chairman’s Trophy at the course and distance. Prebble believes first-time blinkers had a negative effect that day.
“He’s been below his best performance all season but he’s been consistently around the same mark, until last time when we put the blinkers on,” he said. “I thought he would appreciate the blinkers because he gawks at everything and looks around. But he raced in front, and I think, in the blinkers, having nothing to follow, I don't think he appreciated them which surprised me. Obviously, John’s got him back in his original gear (pacifier) on Sunday.
“I have in my mind that he’s coming out of that race having not had a hard run at all, because he never went,” Prebble continued. “He might have a little bit of reserved energy from saving himself. If he just gives us a peak performance, I reckon he can win, but is it still there?”
Prebble has partnered Contentment in each of his last 13 starts and believes that the horse is “a bit of a thinker”.
“He tries hard through a race but then he seems to switch off a little bit in the last 100 yards, he looks at the winning post and loses concentration, that’s why I thought the blinkers would help him concentrate on his job but they had the opposite effect,” he revealed.
“The way he works in the morning, too, he’s a bit of a thinker. He’s a lovely, kind horse, mind you. But he’s with the right trainer – if it’s there to find, he’ll find it.
“He hasn’t gone to that peak performance yet for the season, so he’s maybe holding himself back – hasn't exerted himself to the full extent of what we maybe think he can do. He’s left me scratching my head a little bit. I feel that it is there though, I reckon there’s a better run in him.”
