The David Vandyke trained Orbisyn will make his long awaited return to action at Ipswich on Wednesday where he will contest a modest Class 4 Handicap over 1100m.
The chestnut son of Rich Enuff was all the rage early in his career after coming out and winning his first four starts (from March 3, 2021 to June 2, 2021) by a combined total of 15.60 lengths without ever being extended, completing a flawless, unbeaten three-year-old career with a run of results which had big money offers to purchase the gelding rolling in.
All of those offers were knocked back, but Orbisyn’s career then also took a knock of its own, with the discovery that Orbisyn was suffering from hind leg lameness.
With vets unable to pinpoint any specific reason for the cause of the problem, Vandyke took the precaution of deciding to delay Orbisyn’s return to action, which not only put his first start as a four-year-old on the back-burner, but also put an immediate end to all the big race options … such as The Everest and Golden Eagle … that Orbisyn’s name had been linked with at the time.
Sadly, as things turned out, Orbisyn’s career had not merely had a temporary setback, but had stalled badly.
The gelding ultimately only had two starts as a four-year-old, finishing unplaced first up on May 30, 2022 … after having a full year away from race action … before finishing third second-up on June 18 over the same track and distance he will tackle on Wednesday.
That means Orbisyn will again be returning from a fair layoff, racing fresh after a four month break.
David Vandyke’s patience with his horses and his precise attention to their preparation process is the backbone of his success and there is no doubt he will only bring Orbisyn to a race-day if he believes he is ready to give a good account of himself.
As a five-year-old with only six runs under his belt though (albeit for four wins), and without recent race action in play, it is difficult assess just where Orbisyn’s form stands at this time.
On Wednesday we will know more as to whether it will be back to the drawing board or whether it will be onwards and upwards with the sights finally being able to be re-set on lining up a crack at future, feature glory.
Orbisyn is currently the hot favourite at $1.70 with betr who are expecting him to make a winning return.