It seems Cliff House doesn’t mind waiting an extra day for his shot at Big Dance eligibility in the $100,000 Grand Hotel & Bottle Shop Wellington Cup (1700m) as he enjoyed some sun and a pick of grass to pass the time with the postponement to Monday.
Trainer Tim Donnelly gave the six-year-old some light work on the treadmill, which he says Cliff House enjoys, to keep him ticking over and says even though he has top weight and the outside barrier, he’s very well-placed.
Heavy rain forced the postponement of the Wellington Cup meeting to Monday.Credit: Jenny Evans
In fact, he said the outside barrier will give Cliff House his best chance to book a spot in the $3 million Big Dance later this year.
“He actually doesn’t mind covering ground,” Donnelly said.
“If you look at a number of his wins, the Gundagai Cup and his Highway at Randwick, he’s three or four deep the whole way. He’s a big horse, so it doesn’t really worry him.
“I definitely wanted to draw out at Wellington, I didn’t want him getting caught in on the fence.
“He’s a momentum horse, so he can get out and get going when he wants to.”
Cliff House only had two runs last preparation, a slashing fourth in the Goulburn Cup before he bled in a race at Randwick in September and had to be spelled.
It’s clear to Donnelly that he’s come back in outstanding touch with a first-up second over 1200m at Canberra before going down narrowly in the National Sprint (1400m) earlier this month.
