Written by Georgie Dennis
G1 Futurity S. winner Streets Of Avalon (Magnus) will kick off his summer campaign in the G2 Australia S. at Moonee Valley on Friday night and trainer Shane Nichols is hopeful he can return to the winner’s stall after a winless spring campaign.
“He’s in good shape fitness-wise, he’s quite forward,” Nichols told TDN AusNZ. “He had a very hard spring with a lot of racing and was up for a long time, but he didn’t get a huge break into this.
“I just want to see him step out and run well before I get too bullish about him.
"He applies himself pretty well but he’s not a young 4-year-old anymore, he’s six now, so the hard racing does take its toll on them a little bit. But he’s a very competitive horse so I’m hoping he gives his best.”
Streets Of Avalon is a prolific leader, however, he will have to face fellow frontrunner from the Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr stable in Tavisan (NZ) (Tavistock {NZ}). Nichols said his gelding won’t fight for the lead and will happily let Tavisan take it if he wants it.
Tavisan (NZ) (green cap)
“Tavisan will run along but he’s drawn outside us so he will have to do a little bit of work to cross and then we’ll just get the trail on him,” the trainer said.
“We’ll probably come to his outside and then Viridine will probably be inside us behind Tavisan and the others sort of behind him, that’s how I see it play out.
“We won’t dash him first-up to the front, if Tavisan wants it (the lead) he can have it. If he doesn’t and wants to take a sit off us, that’s fine, but we’ll be positive from the gate.”
Following on from an autumn campaign that yielded a Group 1 victory, Streets Of Avalon went winless from eight starts across the spring, with his best result when finishing second to fellow Australia S. rival Viridine (Poet’s Voice {GB}) in the G3 Bletchingly S. But Nichols believes his form is better than what it reads on paper and he had plenty of excuses for not winning.
“We were destroyed by bad gates and soft tracks,” Nichols said. “We couldn’t get the good draw on the firm track in the right race.
“We probably shouldn’t have gone to the G1 Cantala S. He ran okay in it but it just detracted from his final run in the Kevin Heffernan, he’d had enough at that stage and he was looking for a break.
“He didn’t disgrace himself but he’s rated 110 and it’s very difficult for them if they haven’t got everything in their favour.
“He’s not a superstar. Whilst he’s a lovely horse, he’s not good enough to overcome the bad draws and he certainly doesn’t like soft tracks. But we still feel he was racing competitively and with great interest and endeavour.”
Shane Nichols (left) with Streets Of Avalon
His last run in the spring was just over two months ago when he finished fourth in the G3 Kevin Heffernan S. Since then he has spent some time out in the paddock and while he is coming into the race off just one jump-out, Nichols said he is still holding plenty of residual fitness.
“He had three and a-half weeks in the paddock and then he came back into training and he’s had one jump-out down the back straight at Sandown which was good,” Nichols said.
“He finished just behind Pippie who is obviously extremely quick, but we didn’t punish him in the jump-out and I think it was quite satisfactory and his work since has been good.
“He has held residual fitness but he’s a good-doing horse so we need to keep a little bit of work into him because he does so well in the stable. He quite enjoys stable life.”
Avalon's agenda
If the gelding is to run well enough in the Australia S. on Friday night, Nichols will look to get him back to the 1400 metres at Caulfield and hopefully snag another Group 1 victory.
“If he runs well he’ll go to either the G1 CF Orr S. or the G1 Futurity S., he won’t have a run in between,” Nichols said.
“We’ll space his runs a little bit now. He has been a great back-up horse, but I think those days are behind him. So now we’ll have to nurse him a little bit between runs, spend a bit of time at the beach down here (Mornington) because he enjoys that and it just helps the old body keep fronting up.”
Street’s Of Avalon’s biggest danger in the six-horse Australia S. will be short-priced favourite Viridine, who drops back down in weight after carrying 61kgs in two runs in Queensland. The Godolphin galloper had three runs in Melbourne in the spring for a win and two seconds and he has drawn well in barrier three.
Viridine
Tavisan is the equal second favourite with Streets Of Avalon having put together three good runs this time in. He will more than likely go to the front and the short straight at Moonee Valley will suit that racing pattern, however, drawn barrier five, he will need to get out of the gates quickly to avoid having to work too hard to get across the rest of the field.
Widgee Turf (Turffontein) returns for his first run since September last year and if he can find his best form, he has the talent to win but he hasn’t been victorious since April 2019, while Neighbourhood (Street Boss {USA}) will be out to add her first stakes victory to her CV after putting together three good runs in a row.
Arcadia Prince (Pierro), the brother to superstar Arcadia Queen, will have his first start for Amy McDonald, but he hasn’t raced for over a year and his best form is over 1400 metres rather than 1200 metres.
