Weight no worry for Emphasis at Doomben

The Richie Stephenson-trained Emphasis will have to carry 59kg in his bid to win at Doomben.

Trainer Richie Stephenson is confident pocket dynamo Emphasis can handle his big weight of 59kg in the Listed Tattersall’s Members Cup at Doomben.

Emphasis carried 59kg to win at Toowoomba and Gatton as a younger horse but has carried no more than 57kg in his seven wins since.

Stephenson said while Emphasis was a small horse he had shown he could carry weight.

“You find that sometimes that smaller horses can hump weight while the bigger ones can’t,” he said.

Top jockey Jeff Lloyd has stuck with Emphasis on Saturday after riding him to two wins and a third at his past three starts.

“We are getting up in the weights and it’s a non-claiming race but I wouldn’t have claimed even if I could,” Stephenson said.

“Jeff has won four races on Emphasis and knows him very well.”

Emphasis will be having his eighth start in a black-type race when he tackles the Members Cup (1600m) and the gelding’s only placing in those races was a second in the 2017 Listed Singapore Members Cup also over the Doomben 1600m.

He also finished third in the 2017 Shoot Out Quailty which is one of the feature races of the summer carnival but has not got black-type status.

Not that Stephenson is complaining as Emphasis has returned $415,000 from nine wins after he was picked up for $10,000 at a Darley dispersal sale.

“He hasn’t had much luck in black-type races. I even thought enough of him to put him in the (Group One) Doomben Cup two years ago” Stephenson said.

“But the track was very heavy and he is far better on dry tracks.

“He really has been so honest. If he wins on Saturday that will take him within $10,000 of winning $500,000.”

Stephenson is aiming Emphasis at the Toowoomba Cup on April 6.

“That is over 2000 metres and its his home track. But there a few other races over the winter that might suit him,” he said.