Racing
Franklin due for a change of luck
Longford trainer Brad Franklin is hoping for a change of luck when his 5yo mare All About Luna lines up in the 1430m maiden in Hobart on Sunday.
Franklin was forced to scratch his in-form mare Miss Keeds from her assignment on Sunday after she showed signs of tying up. He also scratched Orphan Eagle from the 1200m 3yo maiden. His stable star, the unbeaten Unique Eagle, has also suffered a setback, delaying her return to the track.
"She was back in work, but then she pulled a muscle in her back the other day so she won't resume in the race I had planned for her, but she is on the mend and won't be too far away," Franklin said.
"I've been pretty excited with her work, but there's always something. She was due to trial at Longford last Tuesday, but we will make sure we have got her right and try to keep that picket-fence intact."
At her first campaign Unique Eagle took all before her winning all five starts. At one stage, Franklin toyed with the idea of running her in the Group 3 Vamos Stakes, but in the end, sent her for a spell.
Unique Eagle hasn't started since winning a BM68 in Launceston on 21 February.
All About Luna will be the stable rep on Sunday. The mare has had just one run in from a spell, finishing well down the track on 11 May, she had an 800m trial at Longford this week.
From nine starts All About Luna has shown promise and was placed in consecutive runs before she lost her rider at her next start, and although uninjured in the mishap, Franklin thinks the mare has lost her confidence.
"Early days she ran a few nice races, not beaten far by a good horse in Sh'bourne Midnight, but she had a fall and had some time off, she didn't show any signs of injury, but hasn't come back the horse she was.
"It might be just a confidence thing, I'm hoping we will see some improvement in her on Sunday. She still works as well as ever, but she might need a bit of racing to find form."
Franklin, who likes to have about 12 horses in work, has enjoyed plenty of success this season; he has trained nine winners from only 23 starters at a strike rate of nearly 40%.
"I've been very happy the way they have been going, I'm off to the weanling sales next week to try and pick up a couple more, I've got a lot of unraced horses coming through in the next 12 months so hopefully I can do everything right with them and keep the good form going.
"I've got 12 in work and I think that's a nice number, I don't want too many more with trying to keep my farrier business going and with a newborn, Jack, he's only three months old, so I try to fit in family time as well as keeping the racehorses going.
"He (Jack) had his first outing to the racetrack at Longford on Tuesday, and he's going good," the proud father said.
It's an early start to the nine-event card, race one starting at 11.20. My best bet is Zanzi in race 3, she will be fitter having her third start and should be right on the speed from barrier 2.
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