See It Again winning last year’s Gr 1 Daily News 2000 (Candiese Lenferna Photography)
The Hollywoodbets Durban July second favourite See It Again has been doing well according to trainer Michael Roberts, who expects him to bounce back from his disappointing runs in the L’Ormarins King’s Plate and WSB Met repectively.
See It Again, who will be the July topweight as things stand, will make his comeback in the Gr 1 Hollywoodbets Gold Challenge before taking in the Hollywoodbets Durban July and World Pool Champions Cup.
Roberts said, “We are happy with him, he’s training good and he’s looking magnificent. We’re going to take him down to Greyville on Saturday for a gallop, which will be a sort of fimal work out before the Gold Challenge on June 8.”
Asked whether the Twice Over colt might have had an underlying virus in Cape Town, Roberts replied, “There was definitely something not right with him. We’ve done a lot of tests on him, blood tests and all sorts. And we just couldn’t put our finger on it. We had a Durban vet there, we got the Cape Town vets to look at him. And we couldn’t find anything really wrong with him. But there was something not right with the horse. Especially after he had won the WSB Green Point so well. Although he finished second to Charles Dickens in the King’s Plate, I could see that that wasn’t See It. The third and fourth were too close to us and he never had that natural burst. He then came out of the race well, but we didn’t know what was going on there. All I can say is that at the time, none of the stables around us at Milnerton were doing well and winning races. It just seems like there was something in the training center. He was working well enough. He is not the type who sets the world alight at work, he has never been a ‘wow’ galloper, but obviously I know him well and he looked well. However, he has got these little things coming off the track when he’s well, a little buck and a kick, and it was there, but you could see it was a little bit under pressure, personally.”
Asked whether it could be seen by his recent work whether he had recovered in to his old self, Roberts replied, “I think he has recovered. He looks magnificent, he’s working well, he’s eating everything. Bar for those two runs in Cape Town, I think he’s probably better than last year, because he’s matured. But, obviously he has still got to do it on the racecourse.”
Roberts is viewing the Hollywoodbets Gold Challenge in the same way he viewed the Green Point. i.e. as a preparation run which he will come on from but he still has the class to win it under those circumstances, like he did in the Green Point.
Roberts said he would be taking it race by race with See It Again and he added he viewed the Gold Challenge and Champions Cup as his two chief targets.
He elaborated by saying the July was the race everybody, including himself, dreamed of winning but that it was a race in which one needed a lot of luck.
He added, “I would like a very good draw in the July with him, because he’s going to carry top weight. although he is the best horse in the race.”
