Australia: Wren's Day faces tall task returning from layoff under difficult weight assignment
Wren’s Day, a 7-year-old Kentucky-bred gelding, is far removed from his surprise second-place finish at 24-1 in the Group 1 Prix Ganay at Longchamp in April 2018 when trained by Andre Fabre.
These days, Wren’s Day is running in routine handicap races in Australia. By Medgalia d’Oro, Wren’s Day was recently sold by Godolphin Racing to a large partnership and is now trained by Cody Morgan.
James Cummings trained Wren’s Day at the start of the Australian segment of the gelding’s career, which includes two wins in nine starts.
Wren’s Day won his final start for Cummings in a handicap at 6 3/4 furlongs at Ipswich Racecourse in July. Wren’s Day will start for the first time for Morgan in a six-furlong handicap at Tamworth Racecourse on Thursday.
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Because Wren’s Day has a vastly superior handicap rating than his 13 rivals, he was scheduled to carry top weight of 143.3 pounds, which has been reduced to a slightly more reasonable 138.8 pounds because of the presence of apprentice jockey Dylan Gibbons.
That is a significant assignment for the first race of a comeback and a contributing reason why Wren’s Day was 10-1 in early betting on Thursday, much higher than runners such as Eiger at 3-1 or All from Scrap or Morpheus at 6-1.
Eiger, who has been assigned 122.3 pounds, has not raced since a fifth-place finish in a tough handicap at 7 1/2 furlongs at Rosehill Gardens in August, a loss that disrupted a streak of two consecutive wins in handicaps at seven furlongs at Scone on July 10 and 7 1/2 furlongs at Rosehill Gardens on July 25.
Eiger is a threat from off the pace, while All from Scrap tends to run closer to the front. All from Scrap, who will carry 125.6 pounds at Tamworth, was fifth and seventh in handicaps at 6 1/4 furlongs at Canterbury Park earlier this month, beaten two lengths and 2 3/4 lengths.
All from Scrap could be in an advantageous spot in this field, which lacks considerable speed.
The Tamworth program begins at 9:15 p.m. Eastern, or 6:15 p.m. Pacific on Wednesday. Wagering and viewing is available through DRFBets.com.