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Whitefriars' Brisbane trip delayed

Friday 20 November 2009
By Russell Jackson

Whitefriars' trip to Queensland has been delayed for a couple of weeks and he will instead be in action at Rosehill on Saturday.

Prepared at Warwick Farm by Rick Worthington, Whitefriars was an emergency for the $100,000 Ferrier Hodgson Stakes (1200m) at Eagle Farm.

But Worthington didn't want to risk floating the Group-placed entire north only to miss out on a start.

"It's hard with a horse like him to go a month between runs and it would have been a big setback to his preparation for him to not get a run up there," Worthington said.

"It was disappointing that he was first emergency for the race at Eagle Farm but I'm sure he won't disappoint at Rosehill."

Whitefriars lines up in the Hutchinsons Builders Handicap (1200m).

He will head north for the Group Three George Moore Stakes (1200m) at Doomben on December 5 and comes into Saturday's race after a slashing first-up 2-1/4 length win over 1100 metres at Randwick on November 3.

The son of Arena had a 26-week spell after his flop in the Group Three Gold Coast Guineas (1200m) in May and Worthington used the time off to teach the horse some new tricks.

"He's a big gross horse and for him to win like that in good time was very pleasing," Worthington said of his first-up performance.

"Knowing how much he is going to improve on that run is also very pleasing."

Whitefriars was sidelined after straining his hamstrings and the injuries forced a change to his training regimen.

"He's never let off the bit in his work now and hardly ever gallops, work is very different for him now," Worthington said.

"We took the opportunity to alter a few things around with him and that worked pretty well first-up."

Whitefriars showed promise from day one, winning on debut as a two-year-old at Canberra in January last year.

At his next start he was three-quarters of a length second to subsequent Group One winner Duporth in the Group Three San Domenico Stakes at Rosehill in August.

Whitefriars led in the San Domenico from the second widest alley only to be overhauled late.

Three starts later he was 1-3/4 lengths second to Dreamscape in the Group Two Stan Fox Stakes at Randwick in September.

"He couldn't draw a barrier in those big races and had to do all the work while the horses like Dreamscape and Duporth had inside barriers," Worthington said.

Blake Shinn rides him at Rosehill where Whitefriars has the topweight of 58kg and barrier seven.

"All going we'll he will go to the George Moore and then we'll look at the Razor Sharp and keep our options open after that," Worthington said.

The Listed Razor Sharp Hcp (1200m) is at Randwick on December 19.