By MATT NICHOLLS
WEARING the silks of the Barbarians Rugby Union Club, Brave Ali will look to do his Armidale owners proud when he contests a Listed race in Brisbane on Saturday.
The seven-year-old gelding, who is now in the care of leading Brisbane trainer Tony Gollan, will be out to make it three wins in a row in the Queensland capital.
Prior to that, he was defeated in the Armidale Cup.
Armidale Jockey Club secretary Jim Dedes, one of more than a dozen Armidale people who lease shares in the horse, said there were a number of people making the trek to Eagle Farm.
“We haven’t been there to see his last two wins, so we don’t want to jinx him, but it’s not every day you have a runner in a Listed race,” he said.
A Listed race is one step below Group 3 level.
On paper, the opposition doesn’t look all that strong for Brave Ali, who won by 3.5 lengths at Doomben on 29 March (2100m) and a neck at the same track on 12 April (2030m).
Just seven nominations were received for the $80,000 race (2125m) and a further five were added after entries were extended until yesterday morning.
One of the late entries was Group 1 winner Fat Al for Melbourne trainer Peter Moody. Fat Al won the Epsom Handicap in 2012 when trained by Gai Waterhouse.
Dedes said there was no reason to think Brave Ali wouldn’t run well.
“From all reports, he’s going well up there,” he said.
“He will be up in the weights though, so that could work against him.”
