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Rebel Raider 'in good order' for Blamey

Tuesday 9 March 2010
By Caryl Williamson

Rebel Raider's racecourse rehabilitation continues in the Blamey Stakes at Flemington with trainer Leon Macdonald happy with his progress.

The dual Derby winner was the early favourite for last year's Melbourne Cup but his mission was aborted when he was found to be lame after trackwork in early September.

The four-year-old underwent surgery to remove a bone chip and has spent many hours on the newly-installed water walker at Adelaide's Morphettville track.

Macdonald decided to adopt a European approach by bringing him back for a short autumn campaign rather than leave him idle until he went back into training for the Melbourne Cup.

The four-year-old ran seventh in the Matrice Stakes (1200m) at Morphettville on February 27 and steps up to 1600 metres on Saturday.

"He came through his last run in good order," Macdonald said.

"I doubt he can win over 1600 metres against some of these hard, fit horses but we'll have a crack.

"I will be happy to see him running on in the race and after that we will decide whether to give him another run in the Easter Cup.

"The main thing was to get him used to it all again."

Macdonald's autumn options were limited to the southern states after Rebel Raider showed his aversion to right-handed tracks in 2009 in Sydney.

His options for Augusta Proud and Majestic Music are a little more open after both won stakes races at Morphettville on Monday.

The two will run in the Group One Sportingbet Classic (1200m) on their home track on Saturday week.

"They will both go to that race, it's a natural progression," Macdonald said.

"Majestic Music might be looking for a bit further and we are thinking about a race like the Queen Of The Turf in Sydney during the carnival up there."

There were 16 entries for the Group Two Blamey including Sydneysider Vision And Power, Hong Kong-bound Dao Dao, New Zealander Lord Tavistock and Vigor who missed making last year's Melbourne Cup field by one spot.

Trainer Joe Pride was disappointed with Vision And Power's eighth in Saturday's Chipping Norton Stakes on his home track of Warwick Farm.

An upgrade from a heavy (8) on Friday to a slow (6) on Saturday didn't help Vision And Power and Pride entered him for Melbourne hoping to take advantage if the track was wet.