Volpe seeking third successive win

Danny Williams is confident Volpe can stretch his winning sequence to three when he faces a step up in class on his Rosehill debut.

Williams welcomed the former Hawkes Racing-trained three-year-old to his Goulburn stable in January and Volpe subsequently broke his duck with his second run for him last month at Wagga.

He followed that success with victory in a 1600m-benchmark race at Goulburn a fortnight ago on soft ground, something Williams thought might count against him.

“He wasn’t completely suited the other day but he just had too much on his rivals,” Williams said.

“His win before that at Wagga had also given him a lot of confidence.”

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There was a temptation to test Volpe over 2200m at Warwick Farm midweek but Williams opted for Saturday’s BM70 Handicap (1500m).

“He’s been going fantastic but he’s still wanting to get on the bridle. He needs to learn to relax but ultimately I’ve no doubt he’s going to run a mile and a quarter (2000m).

“We opted to run him against his own age. My concern is this might be a little bit short for him. I’d have preferred to see him going up to a mile or further.

“He’s particularly well handicapped in this race. Deanne Panya has a 2kg claim.”

If Volpe is competitive and the weather doesn’t deteriorate, Williams said he would back up a week later over 2000m at Randwick.

“That’s our program but I wouldn’t hesitate to throw him in the paddock if I felt the horse didn’t have the right race or was training off,” he said.