Placement is the key to success as the Richard and Chantelle Jolly stable can attest.
Unfortunately, there are occasions when stablemates are forced to face off against each other, such is the case with Deepfloat Diva and Vintage Star in the Winning Edge Presentations Handicap (1000m) on the inner Morphettville Parks track on Saturday.
Both sprinters enter Saturday’s race in good form and have similar credentials in the lead up to the contest.
Vintage Star resumed with victory over 1100m at Morphettville on October 19 where he lumped 60kg to victory.
On Saturday, with the rise in grade, he drops to 56kg.
“He’s a progressive kind of horse,” Richard Jolly said.
“He’s gone up a cog but in that he gets in better at the weights where he has been carrying 60 kilos and winning, so he’s gone up in class for drops in weight.
“He’s a nice horse down the track, but he’s probably going to have a light prep over summer.
“I think he’s better suited when the sting’s out the ground, so he might even have a little break after this run and then we’ll get him ready for the late autumn.”
While Vintage Star, a winner of four of his nine starts likes to race handy, the opposite applies to Deepfloat Diva, a winner of four of his eight starts.
Deepfloat Diva is coming off a last start third at Morphettville over 1100m on November 2.
“He’s had a good prep and he’s also quite a nice horse going forward,” Jolly said.
“He’s more of a sit-back, run-on type, so the speed will be on, and the race will probably set up so that he will be the one who will be charging home late.
“They’re both similar types of horses. What they’ve done so far has been good, but unfortunately, they’ve got to the stage where they have to go up against each other, as it’s only the race that really suits them.”