Trainer Ben Currie has pointed to his ‘healthy rivalry’ with Tony Gollan and close finish in the Dental Elegance Class 1 Handicap 1200m on Saturday at Clifford Park as being good for racing.
“It was a good finish; those close calls are good for racing. Me and Tony are good mates and there’s definitely some healthy competition there. It’s good for the industry and it’s good to get one over him considering the run he’s had lately,” Currie said.
The St Mary’s College-educated pair went head-to-head with geldings that had both won their last starts over 1100m in Toowoomba.
Currie attributed the weight difference to Margins ($2.40) beating All Taken ($2.40 fav) by half a length, as Kristy Banks rode for the Currie stable at 54.5kg, while Skye Bogenhuber was lumped with 57kg.
“We were two-and-a-half kilos off All Taken so I would attribute it to the weight, yes,” Currie said.
The showdown almost did not happen as Currie had planned to continue the three-year-old’s Brisbane campaign, but wild weather across southeast Queensland prevented that.
“We were supposed to go to town but the track was rated heavy so we scratched him there because Toowoomba was our best chance.”
Margins will resume his metropolitan campaign in a fortnight and his trainer believes a distance rise is on the cards.
“We definitely think he can go further; maybe a mile (1600m). We’ve got a 1350m in Brisbane in two weeks which would be the next logical step, then possibly 2000m in the future,” Currie said.
Story - Brandon Long Photo - Trackside Photography
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