Nicole Irwin enters unfamiliar territory with in-form galloper Call Me Vexatious at Moonee Valley on Saturday.
It will be just the second time Irwin, who trains a team out of Murray Bridge and Darwin, has been to the home of the Cox Plate with Liberty Hill running fourth as a $101 chance back in 2017.
“We actually took some horses to Geelong to run on the synthetic the day before and see if they would handle that surface before we took them to Darwin’’ Irwin said.
“We put her (Liberty Hill) in the at the Valley the next day and she finished fourth.
“She ran super and picked up $5000, that was like running second in Adelaide at the time, so it was a good result,’’ she said.
Call Me Vexatious hasn’t finished out of the top two in his past five starts winning three of those, the latest at Morphettville on Boxing Day with the in-form Callan Murray in the saddle.
Irwin said despite the horse racing in great form it will be the trip interstate that will be his biggest obstacle.
“We’re wrapped with how he is going, but I’m a bit nervous,’’ Irwin said.
“He’s not the world’s greatest traveller."
“We’ll just be doing everything we can to keep him happy, I’ll be much more relaxed when we get to Moonee Valley,’’ she said.
Irwin said Call Me Vexatious had been a difficult horse to train but was starting to get things together on the track.
“He’s starting to mature,’’ Irwin said.
“He’s always been hard to handle and a bit of a ratbag but he’s putting it together now and saving his energy for the races.
“He always needed something to chase, he’s not waiting for them now when he hits the front like he was.
“He’s been frustrating, he’s run a lot of seconds where he should have won, he was in front a couple of strides before and then after the line a couple of times,’’ she said.
Call Me Vexatious will be without Callan Murray in Melbourne, the in-form hoop electing to stay in Adelaide with family visiting from South Africa.
“When we started talking about heading over, he was dead keen,’’ Irwin said.
“But he got six or seven rides here in Adelaide, he didn’t want to let those trainers down.
“He’s had a good chat to Tom Stockdale, and I am sure he’ll do a good job,’’ she said.
