Portelli hoping for drying weather

Trainer Gary Portelli is hoping for an end to Sydney’s wet weather for Single Bullet at Rosehill.

The weather will determine if Single Bullet runs at Rosehill or if trainer Gary Portelli is forced to change his preparation.

Portelli is not keen to run the three-year-old on a wet track with Rosehill in the soft range on Monday and two more days of rain predicted.

The trainer said he would run the colt in Saturday’s Benchmark 85 Handicap (1100m) against older horses if it was no worse than soft as part of his campaign to get to next month’s $2 million Magic Million Guineas..

“I would run him on soft but I’m just hoping it’s no worse, otherwise he’ll be saved for a race like the Razor Sharp” Portelli said.

“The tracks dry out quickly at this time of year so I’m hoping he can run on Saturday.

“Then I want to get him to a 1200 metre race so I can make sure he can run it out solidly before we go to the 1400 metres at the Gold Coast.

“He needs to be able to do that because you need to be strong for the 1400 at the Coast.”

Single Bullet won the Group Three Pago Pago Stakes in the autumn but struggled on the heavy track in the Golden Slipper won by stablemate She Will Reign and again struck heavy ground in the ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes.

In three stakes starts in the spring, Single Bullet finished second to Viridine twice at Randwick over 1100 and 1200m and was runner-up again over 1200m to Queenslander Eptimum at Moonee Valley.

Portelli also entered last-start winner Secret Lady for Saturday’s 2YO handicap but said she would not run.

“I put her in the noms in case it looked like being a six or seven-horse field but there are 14 entries so we will wait,” he said.

“She will trial on the 19th and there is a race for her on the 30th.”

The trainer said both two-year-old Perfect Pitch and stable veteran Testashadow had pulled up well from their Rosehill wins on Saturday.

“Perfect Pitch has gone to the paddock for a short break and Testashadow could head to the Villiers on the 16th,” he said.