High-flying trainer Todd Pollard has mapped out a bold Sydney assault for his classy mare Midnight In Tokyo, eyeing a pair of lucrative black-type targets at Royal Randwick before pointing her towards a summer carnival campaign on home soil.<\/p>\n
Pollard<\/a>, who only launched his training career in March after cutting his teeth as an assistant to Annabel and Rob Archibald<\/a>, has already stamped himself as one of the most exciting young operators in the country.<\/p>\n The Eagle Farm<\/a> horseman currently boasts a remarkable 20 per cent winning strike-rate and his sights are firmly set on NSW black-type as the next prize.<\/p>\n Either the Toy Show Quality (1100m)<\/a> or the Show County Quality (1200m)<\/a> \u2013 both $250,000 Group 3s<\/a> at Royal Randwick<\/a> on August 22 \u2013 loom as the opening assignment for Midnight In Tokyo<\/a>, before she steps up to the $300,000 Group 2 Sheraco Stakes (1200m)<\/a> at Rosehill Gardens<\/a> three weeks later.<\/p>\n \u2022 Jace the ace lands Doomben four-timer before birthday<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a somewhat ambitious plan but I do think she\u2019s got the ability if we have her right to run well enough in those races,\u201d Pollard said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf she can find a typical Sydney wet track at that time of year, then that\u2019s terrific and brings her well into it.\u201d<\/p>\n The gutsy mare returns to work in fine fettle following a short freshen-up after her gut-busting effort in the Group 1 Tattersall\u2019s Tiara (1400m)<\/a> at Eagle Farm<\/a> on June 27, when she finished 12th out of 17 runners. <\/p>\n \u201cI thought she was very good in the Tatt\u2019s Tiara where she was three-wide, no cover the whole way,\u201d Pollard said. <\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s still got a good shine to her coat so she\u2019s healthy and ready to go again.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 Gollan eyes $3m Magic Millions target with young gun<\/a><\/p>\n Beyond Sydney, the Queensland summer carnival presents a glittering array of options. <\/p>\n Midnight In Tokyo placed in the past two editions of the Nudgee Stakes (1200m)<\/a> at Eagle Farm in early January \u2013 a race that offers a golden ticket into the $1m Magic Millions Fillies & Mares (1300m)<\/a> contest on the Gold Coast<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe summer carnival is very enticing, there\u2019s a few Listed<\/a> races there and she won two of them last year,\u201d Pollard said. <\/p>\n \u201cBut first and foremost we\u2019ll have a crack at two races in Sydney and if she doesn\u2019t run well, that\u2019s fine, at least we\u2019re trying to get NSW black-type on the page for her. <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019ll always be a really good horse in those races and deep, strong fields so she\u2019ll have to be at her best.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I think her last two preparations have been her best and she\u2019s going as well as she can be.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Pollard has received a timely confidence boost from his four-year-old All Kinds Of Folk<\/a>, who saluted in a $160,000 Benchmark 78 (1800m)<\/a> at Randwick on a heavy track earlier this month. <\/p>\n The mare, kept in Sydney off the back of that barnstorming victory, will line up in a similar contest at the same track this Saturday. <\/p>\n \u201cShe raced without a lot of luck during her whole preparation, barrier draws, things like that, so for all of that to culminate in a win at Randwick was fantastic,\u201d Pollard said.<\/p>\n