David Hayes is not predicting an upset when Victoria Derby winner Kibbutz takes on Weekend Hussler and Light Fantastic in Saturday's Makybe Diva Stakes at Flemington.

But he is confident of a far better showing from the four-year-old than when he failed first-up after a long layoff in the Liston Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield last month.

Kibbutz was slowly away and hung in when seventh behind the unbeaten Light Fantastic and Weekend Hussler in the Liston.

"I think you'd be a fool to tip your horse to beat them (Weekend Hussler and Light Fantastic) at a mile (1600m). I think they are at the top of their game at their proven right distances so they'll probably be too good again," Hayes said.

"But I know Kibbutz will run a totally better race at a mile because he has improved out of sight.

"He needs to but he has and with blinkers on it will make a huge difference.

"He'll have sharp improvement but I'm not predicting he'll beat those horses.

"He wore winkers in the Derby and he went beautifully, but I trialled him last week at Werribee and he was outstanding in the blinkers.

"I think he needs the blinkers at the shorter distances against the best horses to sharpen him up."

Hayes said he would be happy to see Kibbutz run on into fourth or fifth spot.

The seven-time premier trainer in Melbourne, who won the race with Confectioner in 2005, said he favoured dodging the Makybe Diva with his other two entries Indio Glorioso, a dual Group One winner in Argentina, and Largo Lad who are both nominated for support events on the program.

Weekend Hussler was runner-up in the Liston before winning second-up in the Memsie Stakes at Caulfield last Saturday and trainer Ross McDonald on Sunday had swayed towards backing up the six-time Group One winner in the Makybe Diva.

That would give the Caulfield Cup and Cox Plate favourite two weeks before his next run in the Group One Underwood Stakes (1800m) at Caulfield on September 20.

The Makybe Diva also sees the return of Melbourne Cup winner Efficient as well as stablemate Zipping who are being prepared by trainer John Sadler for the Melbourne Cup and the Caulfield Cup respectively.

The pair galloped over 1000 metres with another stablemate Extend after the first race at Caulfield last Saturday.

Extend won the workout by three-quarters of a length from Zipping with Efficient a similar margin away.

There are 11 Group One winners entered for the Group Two weight-for-age feature which attracted 18 nominations.

However that figure is expected to be significantly reduced with several entries nominated for other races at the meeting.

Those likely to start include Rosehill Guineas winner Dealer Principle, Caulfield Cup winner Master O'Reilly and Australasian Oaks and SA Derby winner Zarita.

Weekend 又來，唔係呀

頂唔頂得住呀，下站又 木下錦標 :ooo:

Light Fantastic 就好佢好多:fff::fff:

至少體力有優勢:jjjj:

係到介紹埋希斯同場另一匹馬 Indio Glorioso

Indio Glorioso

呢匹馬來頭唔少野

阿根廷打比大熱跑第 8

但之前已兩勝一級賽...... 包括阿根廷賽馬會錦標

阿根廷二千堅尼亦跑入第二名

現時四歲

[ 本帖最後由 S.WEEK 於 1/9/2008 07:00 PM 編輯 ]

唔係話澳洲模式一星期一次唔得

但咁早谷哂，7星期後正賽仲搵D咩同人鬥

well,,,我估計trainner真係以跑伐操,
weekend 上２仗感覺好似同上季有d出入..可能狀態未夠

佢終極目標係cox plate...

Indio Glorioso

賽馬會錦標 (1st)

記得上年既marsco 同 miss f 嗎?

記得，太早谷正賽 :yyy: :yyy: