Fully Maxed on target to run at Caulfield

The lure of a restricted juvenile race for good prize money has trainer Shane Nichols preparing to give last-start city winner Fully Maxed a crack at the VOBIS Gold Ingot at Caulfield.

Fully Maxed came from back in the field in a 1000m race for two-year-olds at Sandown last Wednesday to win in his first start back from a spell and the gelding is entered to step straight up to 1400m in Saturday’s VOBIS Gold Ingot.

The race is a $150,000 event with another $30,000 in bonuses and is restricted to VOBIS Gold qualified horses.

“He’s in good order and at this stage he’s going to run,” Nichols said.

“My initial thoughts were that stretching him to 1400 metres after about ten days was probably putting him under a bit of pressure, so I gave him some strong work on Tuesday morning and he worked super and pulled up great.

“He’s the highest rated horse in the race. It’s at level weights, and the race is of about $180,000 with some of the bonuses.

“The worst thing that can happen is he can get beaten. So there’s not much downside there, I wouldn’t think.

“It’s one of those races where it’s massive money so you might as well have a go.”

Nichols has always had a good opinion of Fully Maxed who has won two of his six starts, but he said the addition of a cross-over noseband midway through his previous preparation had been a key to getting him to settle.