Racing: Lock has promising youngster ready for Waipa test

A comfortable trial performance at Te Awamutu last month could provide punters with the best guide to a winner at the rescheduled Waipa Racing Club meeting today.

Heavy rain and surface flooding caused the postponement of the meeting last Friday. Conditions have improved but the surface will be heavy. That suits Te Aroha trainer Peter Lock for his progressive three-year-old Dougie who steps out in the last race on the programme.

Successful in one of his three starts, the Keeper gelding has been kept on ice by Lock as he waited for the tracks to soften.

"He showed us plenty when he won on his home track back in September last year," he noted. "We had big plans for him including a possible Derby campaign but he really felt the ground when he ran down the track at Ellerslie in December.

"That put a halt to those summer plans so we put him aside to wait until we got more suitable ground for him."

Dougie made his first appearance since his Ellerslie failure at the Waipa trials on April 18 and finished second to Straight Sets in an open heat over 850 metres.

"He has come on nicely although whatever he does will only benefit him."

Lock also advised that promising sprinter/miler Mr Luigi will return to full work this week after recovering from a nasty incident following his trial win at Ellerslie in early May.

"It was stop start all the way and he managed to pull a shoe and then stand on it in the float. He did a bit of damage so we poulticed the hoof for a week and he is ready to come back into work. It has put us behind the eight ball a little but I'm still happy with him."

- NZ Racing Desk