Cran spoke on Melbourne radio this week ahead of Sugar Me starting in a heat of the Victoria Derby on Saturday night:
While he admits it’s a bit of a ping at the stumps, New Zealand training great Cran Dalgety reckons his relatively unknown commodity Sugar Me can give the Lather Up Victoria Derby “a real good crack”.
The preparer of more than 1300 winners will remain home throughout his three-year-old’s Aussie campaign, which kicks off this Saturday night with the Derby heats in Bendigo.
The son of Sweet Lou, who has won six of nine starts at Addington, has been with Dalgety’s former training partner Nathan Purdon in Avalon for the past week or so and will be driven by master reinsman Chris Alford this weekend.
"He's been there approximately eight days now," Dalgety told SEN Track on Wednesday.
"Nathan said he's pretty happy with his workload and fitness-wise.
"Us being in Christchurch, we can't fly them from Christchurch straight to Melbourne or Sydney. We have to go to Auckland. So that's another 24-hour road trip, rest him up there and then the plane trip.
"So, there's a wee bit of logistics involved just to get them there and then to build them back up to their health. If anyone can do it, Nathan can. But in summary, he's really happy where he is."
Dalgety said Sugar Me had shown he was up with the better three-year-olds in New Zealand and declared himself “quietly excited more than confident” about the horse’s chances in the Derby, which culminates with the Group 1 final on October 9.
"He comes over with no fame or no recognition whatsoever, but he has got a lot of bottom, a lot of speed and a lot of stamina. So he's got a combination of a few good things," he said.
"And like I always say to the clients, the horse is only that one age for one year. If only is no good to us, and we're going to try and make use of the new age group going to the 31st of December.
"It's a wildcard, but I'm throwing the ball at the wickets."
Dalgety felt the long Derby trip of 2650m – for both the heats and the final – would be beneficial to Sugar Me’s chances of success.
"Going into the first heat, we have drawn 13 out the back so we've got to circle the field to maybe be victorious - or try to be - but he can make his own luck and he can have his feathers ruffled,” Dalgety, who trains with wife Chrissie, said.
The TAB has Sugar Me at $3.80 for the third heat on Saturday night and as a $6 chance to win the series overall.
Check out Cran's full interview:
