Six-time Group 1 finalist Christo Bale is poised to continue his brilliant return from injury and trainer Mark Delbridge’s fantastic recent run when he takes aim at a fifth straight victory on Saturday night at The Meadows.
Delbridge and wife Lisa have enjoyed a fortnight to remember, with the ‘other’ star of their Balliang kennel, Zipping Rambo, winning the G1 Sandown Cup (715m), followed by the G3 Racecallers Speed Star series (595m) on Wednesday.
It will be Christo Bale’s turn to take centre stage in the GR8 Eight Special Event (525m) – Race 8 at 8.57pm.
After missing two months due to injury, Christo Bale, which has won 24 of his 59 starts, including 10 from 24 over The Meadows 525m course despite being better known for his middle-distance exploits, has returned with a bang.
“He tore his triangle muscle; he’s always had problems with one of his triangles,” Delbridge said.
“He’s won four from five since coming back and I’ve tried to pick his races out for him.
“He was beaten at Healesville first-up but he’s not suited over 350m. His next two runs at Geelong and Bendigo were in Grade 4s to make it a little bit easier.
“His third run was at The Meadows on a Wednesday and he ran 29.76sec and then I threw him in the deep end with two runs in under a week but he went super, running 29.85sec in a FFA last Saturday.
“I was going to put him back over 600m this week but then I saw the GR8 Eight was on and with most of the FFA dogs going around in the Speed Star on Wednesday I thought it should be a bit easier so 600 can wait another week.”