Otsego Farms owner Jim Webber was coy when asked about entering Refractor in the Brisbane Cup. "My first and strongest inclination," he said, "was to skip the trip to Brisbane and call it a season after the Breeders Cup win. But you never know..."
Playing in favor of a Refractor appearance is the fact that Otsego Farms has a successful history in this race, with 3 victories in 10 years. Nightwing won the Brisbane Cup in 2004 and 2005, and Union Jack won it in 2010. "Yeah, I'd like to get another one," Webber continued, "but Refractor has had a bit of a busy schedule in the past couple of months so I'm playing it by ear."
Refractor won the Prix du Cadran in Paris on October 7th, and followed that up with the BC Endurance victory at Churchill Downs on November 1st. This caused an unidentified stable to make sarcastic and derogatory comments in the media about Refractor's schedule. Webber bristled a bit at that. "We transport our horses via our own corporate jet, so we can cut things a little tighter. Of course, the smaller, less successful stables have to use public transportation. So I can understand their envy."
Refractor romped home in both recent wins, leaving quite a bit of stamina untapped. Webber concluded, "Physically, the horse could easily stand another 16F before the end of the year. He wasn't pushed at all in either of the wins."
2 comments:
Strike while the iron is hot Jim, Refractor would be as close as a certainty as you would get in that if you run. Then he can have a decent spell before winning next years Melbourne Cup
I'm thinking about it Josh. He'd defintely have a good shot to win and his rest will be at least adequate at 26 days...
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