Pinstriped hoping for strong Futurity Stakes run after poor CF Orr Stakes

Enver Jusufovic had a day to forget last weekend at Caulfield Racecourse on February 8. On that day, the experienced trainer watched jockey Ben Allen and his star galloper Pinstriped finish in a disappointing 9th place in the CF Orr Stakes.

There were only 10 runners in that race. Pinstriped finished a staggering nine lengths behind the winner Another Wil.

Following that disappointing run, Jusufovic is hoping for a bounce back performance from Pinstriped this Saturday at Randwick in the Group 1 Futurity Stakes.

Jusufovic explains bad run

The first solution towards improving this weekend is figuring out what went wrong two weeks ago. Thankfully for Pinstriped’s chances, his trainer thinks he has found the flaws from his first run.

“Going into the race, from barrier 10, I did the form, and the speed map, and the number one spot, and I think everybody had the same idea, was to be behind Mr Brightside,” Jusufovic said, discussing his strategy heading into the CF Orr Stakes two weekends ago.

“I think we all thought he was going to go forward and sit outside the leader, but I think Craig (Williams, Mr Brightside’s jockey) was looking for something to take him forward.

“We didn’t have the speed out of the barriers to get in front of him early, so I said to Ben (Allen), hopefully something will be in the three-wide line, and you can track them, otherwise you will have to go back to last.

“I think by going back to last, he really switched off.”

Pinstriped feels great

Despite understanding what went wrong for Pinstriped in the CF Orr Stakes, Jusufovic added after his analysis that he was still surprised at just how poorly his horse performed.

“I thought he would run on a bit better than what he did, so it was a bit of a head scratcher,” Jusufovic said.

On the bright side, Jusufovic believes the worst is behind Pinstriped now.

“Since then, the horse has felt great. He’s come on from that run, so there’s no reason not to run him in the Futurity as he’s usually a genuine horse.

“We had a blood taken from him prior to the race and afterwards, and it’s spot on and Linda, who rides him most mornings, can’t fault him.

“We’ve put him over a few poles during the week, just to switch things up, and that’s brightened him up a bit.

“Sometimes you can over analyse things, and it’s better to just move on. What’s happened, happened.”

Mr Brightside the big favourite

While we will be watching Pinstriped closely on Saturday, there’s really only one contender according to the betting odds.

The betting sites give Mr Brightside $1.90 chances of winning the Group 1 race at Randwick.

I Wish I Win is listed at a distant third, with $4.80 odds. James Cummings’ Tom Kitten is close behind with $8 chances.

Pinstriped is firmly in the middle of the betting odds list at $13.