Record mile on the cards with 4yo fireworks and Ray confident Copy That is up to it

Copy That could have to run a record mile to win at Cambridge on Sunday with predictions of early fireworks from a very fast front line in the Four-Year-Old Emerald.

And that prospect doesn’t faze Lincoln Farms’ trainer Ray Green one iota who says Copy That is such a serious racehorse he could easily better Eamon Maguire’s Four-Year-Old Emerald track record of 1:51.9 and even lower Adore Me’s track record of 1:51.6.

“Copy That is capable of anything,” says Green. “At Menangle (in Sydney) I would think he could go under 1:50 easily and if they went very fast on Sunday you wouldn’t know what time he could run.”

Speed map proponents have Kango in two and Copy That’s stablemate Tommy Lincoln in three waging an early war, one which Green believes his horse would win with leading driver Blair Orange at the helm.

“Kango’s going to have to work hard to lead. Tommy’s a bit slicker from the gate than he is and hopefully he’ll make the front.”

But Steel The Show (four), Bad To The Bone (five) and South Coast Arden (seven) are also very fast off the gate and likely to get involved.

“If Tommy makes the lead it would help having a fast pace but we won’t be looking to team drive.

“I can’t see Copy That looping the field and pressing on for the lead. I think that would be too much of an ask. I’d like to see him getting home well. He doesn’t need to be doing an overland trip.

Driver Maurice McKendry … the man in charge of making the right calls on Copy That.“But I wouldn’t pretend to second guess Maurice (McKendry). He’s the one out there who has to make those calls.

“It’s very hard to predict how races will be run and that’s why you have to have the good drivers who can assess it as it happens.

“You can’t go out there with a plan - that’s when you get into trouble. If things don’t go according to plan your driver has to be smart enough to do something different.”

While 77.7% of Jewels races at Cambridge have been won by horses either leading, trailing, being parked, or in the one-one at the bell, Green believes Copy That can join the thin ranks of top liners who have defied the trend.

“Even if he’s out three wide for the whole of the last lap I can still see Copy That winning, so long as he’s got cover. He’s the best horse in the race by a mile, nobody would refute that.

“With the sort of speed he’s got, if he’s handy enough he can get the job done. But if they walk and sprint, we’re buggered. You want a fast pace and a few stopping down the back so it’s not so hard to get around them.”

Favourites have a mortgage on the 4yo Emerald

Franco Nelson turned in a spectacular run to win the Four-Year-Old Emerald at the 2014 Jewels, coming from four on the second row.The favourite has won each of the six runnings of the Four-Year-Old Emerald at Cambridge, from a variety of draws.

• Field Marshal drew one when he led all the way in 2016 as did Terror To Love from two in 2012.
• Tintin In America enjoyed a perfect trail in 2010 from the inside of the second row.
• Changeover was huge when starting from the outside of the front line in 2008, mounting a lightning run from the rear at the bell to park at the 800 then lead.
• Eamon Maguire started from two on the second row in 2018 and ended up getting a cushy run, one-one at the bell.
• But Franco Nelson had to turn on one of the biggest runs seen at the Jewels in 2014 when he started from four on the second row. He was fourth last at the bell, but moving, and made a sweeping run three then four wide from the 800.

Green believes he has Copy That primed to do something similar, improved by his fast mile workout at Cambridge last Saturday when third to Alta Wiseguy who clocked 1:53.8. Copy That paced serious closing sectionals of 54.34 and 27.1.

“I can’t fault him. He’s always thrived on a bit of tough racing and has never bottomed out.

“He seems good now. He trained well on Tuesday, ran a mile, and sprinted up in 26.3. But he can do that any day you like.”