Sistonic dares Dabernig to dream

By Ben Asgari/Racing Victoria

Trainer Tom Dabernig is delighted with the progress of Black Caviar’s three-quarter sister Sistonic ahead of her second start at Moonee Valley on Friday.

A dominant four-and-a-half length winner on debut at Sale, the daughter of Bel Esprit has drawn barrier three for apprentice Jye McNeil in the $35,000 Reg Delaney Memorial Handicap (1200m).

Admitting he and co-trainer David Hayes have always had a big opinion of the three-year-old, Dabernig said Friday’s race would give them a better indication of whether their Stakes ambitions for the well-related filly were sound.  

“We clearly think that she’s city class and we have aspirations to have her racing at Listed grade at some point down the track but at this stage we’ll just take things one step at a time,” Dabernig said.

“(Her debut) was a very soft win and while it’s a big step from a maiden into city grade I think she’s the sort of horse that can take that step.

“In regards to fitness she looks to have made good improvement since her first up win and she couldn’t be in any better shape heading into Friday night.”

While Linda Meech partnered Sistonic on debut, Dabernig said McNeil had been given the ride on Friday because of his 2kg claim.

“When we found out she was going to be given 60kg we opted to go for Jye,” he said.

“She’s quite tractable and from what we’ve seen at home I think she could pretty much settle anywhere. Based on her first up run she has a lovely cruising speed and my experience at Moonee Valley over sprint distances you don’t want to be too far away, especially with the rail out two metres.

“We’ve seen horses like her before bolt home in a maiden and then they come to town and get a bit of a reality check so we’re keeping the expectations relatively low but if she goes as well as we think she will she should be very competitive.”

Lindsay Park will also be represented by another talented filly at Moonee Valley when track specialist Tawteen resumes in the $55,000 Jeep 55 Second Challenge Heat 10 (955m).

Dabernig said the Crockett Stakes (1200m) winner was a chance to join stable mate Tashbeeh on the plane to Dubai if she won impressively.

“She’d have to win on Friday and she’s a good winning chance but the thing is there are such lovely races for her here through the autumn that we have to weigh up whether she’d be better placed staying or going,” he said.

“Dubai is probably a little bit of a long shot with her but she’s going very well, she’s good at Moonee Valley and is a very fast filly so hopefully she can run well."

View the full list of fields, form and replays for Moonee Valley’s eight-race program which gets underway at 6.45pm Friday.

This article first appeared on the Racing Victoria website and is reproduced here with their kind permission. For more on Off the Track visit http://rv.racing.com/the-horse/off-the-track/news