Latest News

By Ray Hickson

Trainer Jean Dubois is banking on Tyler Schiller continuing the form that saw him outride his apprentice claim over Christmas when the jockey reunites with Arnaqueur at Randwick on Saturday.

Trainer Jean Dubois.

The four-year-old has been a source of plenty of frustration for the Goulburn trainer but since Schiller steered him to a breakthrough win back in August, just over a year since his previous success, the horse has found some consistency.

And despite Schiller losing his 1.5kg with four winners last Monday, Dubois had no hesitation in recalling him for the Kia Ora Prague Handicap (1600m)

“I knew he had lost his claim but we wanted to stick with Tyler, when he won on him back in August the horse was really good,’’ he said.

“Hopefully getting them back together again will get the same result. It’s good to have a rider in form.”

Arnaqueur competed against some of the best of his age as a colt at two and three, he was Group 3 placed at a mile, but Dubois elected to geld him going into the Newhaven Park Country Championships series earlier this year.

It’s fair to say the horse went missing for a while as Dubois experimented with distance and a few other things in an attempt to solve the puzzle. In the end it seems time has been his friend.

“We realised he needed gelding and after that he hit a bit of a rough patch,’’ he said.

“He always had ability and that’s why we raced him in some nice races early on. As time went on we realised he wasn’t suited on a long distance path.

“We gave him a bit more time to settle into his gelding life. He’s been doing well this prep.

“We bought him back to 1400m to a mile and he’s a lot more suitable at this distance.”

Since his win under Schiller, Arnaqueur ($9.50 with TAB on Thursday) has finished third, fourth, and second in successive 1400m Benchmark 78 races and Dubois said the time is right to extend to the mile again.

In the latter he chased home Democracy Manifest with last Saturday’s winner Kanazawa behind him in third.

“It’s a great form line for him. He has a good chance again on Saturday against a field that is on his level,’’ he said.

“He’s raced well at a mile before, we were waiting for the horse to find his fitness and get it to a good level. A mile won’t be a problem.”

Dubois produces an interesting two-year-old called Besson who debuts in the Grainshaker Australian Vodka Handicap (1200m).

The colt is by Aylmerton, who Dubois trained to win his first two starts, including a Group 2 Todman Stakes, before starting in the Golden Slipper of 2018.

Besson kicks off in town as the trainer feels he’d be outsprinted over a shorter course based on his latest trial, where he ran fourth at Hawkesbury over 800m.

“We thought he was left flat footed against really fast horses so we wanted to stretch him out to six furlongs straight away,’’ he said.

“He’s trialled well enough for us to send him to Sydney. He looks like his father, we’ll see how he handles the pressure.

Arnaqueur runs second at Randwick on December 10

“If he does as well as his father we’d be delighted with that but we’ll see more after Saturday.”

Stable stalwart Julian Rock completes the trio of Randwick runners for Dubois as he returns from a five week break in the Furphy Handicap (1300m).

The eight-year-old has raced consistently without winning this time in, running third behind Spaceboy at Canterbury on November 25.

“The horse has had a freshen up which will help,’’ he said.

“He’s always better during his prep, he had a good trial at Warwick Farm and he should perform according to the trial.”

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday’s Randwick meeting