Al’s entering unchartered territory with Kiwi war horse Trojan Banner

Trojan Banner still has two or three easy wins left but trainer Al Barnes will seek advice on his immediate future after he extended his unbeaten streak in Brisbane to five with another command performance on Tuesday.

In what commentator Chris Barsby described as probably Trojan Banner’s best win so far, the Lincoln Farms’ owned colt “went into attack mode” early to wrest the lead 1400 metres from home, turning the race into a procession.

And despite having to really burn to cross former Kiwi Cool Scooter, driver Hayden Barnes told his dad afterwards that Trojan Banner still had plenty of fight left in him as he cruised home by nearly three metres, recording a super mile rate of 1:55.3 for the 2138 metres.

His overall time of 2:33.1 was 2.6 seconds faster than brilliant four-year-old Colt Thirty One took to win the c7 and faster pace later in the day and left Barnes wondering where his improvement might end.

“I don’t know how much more the horse can improve to be honest. They don’t go much quicker than that here .

“There weren’t a lot of quality horses in the race but the sectionals he ran were pretty sharp.’’

Barsby mentioned in his call that Barnes had “put his foot down and burned them off” as he sped through the opening quarter of the last mile in 28.4.

Trojan Banner has Cool Scooter well covered, with the rest distanced, in his fifth straight win at Albion Park on Tuesday.But Trojan Banner was probably at full speed for more like 600 metres or 700 metres, says Al Barnes, as he made his bid - “and you don’t get many horses who have that speed and the stamina to stick it out.’’

What impressed Barnes the most though was how quickly Trojan Banner recovered afterwards.

“His heart rate was down to 82 within five minutes, as soon as we ungeared him, so he’s got to be peaking now or not far off it.’’

Therein lies the dilemma for Barnes who admits as a trainer used to nursing old and crippled horses, he’s in unfamiliar territory mapping out a derby campaign with a horse at the peak of his powers.

“I’ll have a chat with Ray (Green) about it. I need to talk to those that know because this is all a learning curve for me and I don’t want to get it wrong.’’

With his main aim the Queensland Derby not until July 20, Barnes thinks it might be best to give the horse a couple of easy weeks soon, either in the paddock or jogging.

“He’s a c4 now but he’s still got two or three easy ones in him. If he wins them now though he has to start taking on the big boys and older horses leading up to the derbies.

“My rule has always been not to put horses out when they’re winning because they don’t often come back as well.

“But he’s different and he should be fun to manage.’’

Barnes says he’s working through a couple of little niggles with Trojan Banner who has had sore feet.

While most recently it has been through a bad corn, he suspects it might be mainly down to growing pains and says the horse’s coffin joints might need injecting.

Barnes had a small fright on race morning this week when he brought Trojan Banner in from the paddock to discover a small boil had burst on his wither in the area where it would have been rubbing on his rug.

“Luckily it was higher than the saddle or he wouldn’t have been running but with the infection his blood wouldn’t have been spot on.’’

Trojan Banner also repeated his habit of trying to knock off in the run home on Tuesday.

“It’s not a big concern - a lot of it will be because he’s a colt - but that’s how older horses start cheating.’’

Barnes was pleased with the way Lincoln’s Girl ran on from the back in her race for seventh, her last 100 metres her best.

She lines up again on Friday, drawn the outside of the gate in a field of seven.