Will Oliveanotherday handle the Flemington straight?

By Jasper Cormick

Rising star sprinter Oliveanotherday, trained by Tom Dabernig, has become one of the people’s champs of Australian racing.

The four-year-old has won five races on the trot including the Wangoom Handicap (1200m) at his home track at Warrnambool last preparation.

Oliveanotherday resumed in style by winning the Group 3 The Heath (1100m) at Caulfield on August 29 and now looks ahead to another step-up in class with the Group 2 Bobbie Lewis Quality (1200m) at Flemington this Saturday.

“The plan was always to have him prepared for this spring,” Dabernig said on SENTrack & RSN's Giddy Up.

“He kicked off perfectly, his trial was excellent and his first-up run was good.”

Looking ahead to the weekend, the star gelding takes on the intimidating Flemington straight for the first time in his eight-start career.

Dabernig admits it is a query but feels comfortable given he's drawn barrier 7 and is in great nick.

“The straight is hard to know with horses, I find that he’s a horse that around the bend he really accelerates well off the corner,” Dabernig suggested.

“I like that middle draw; he can just be ridden smoothly.

“The horse is in tip top shape.”

He is currently $1.70 with Sportsbet for the Bobbie Lewis.

When asked on Stable Mail, Dabernig opted to put his $100 straight on the win at the short price with Oliveanotherday.

The future direction for the star is contentious as Everest slot holders have begun their calls to Dabernig’s team.

“There has been a little bit of interest,” Dabernig said.

“We’ve been talking about it; (but) his (owner Andrew Harrison’s) preference would be to keep him in Melbourne through the spring.”

Dabernig spoke to the fact that the direction is towards a Manikato initially, and that is currently the focus.

“Manikato after this, that’s the plan,” he said.

“At this stage we just want to revisit everything after this Saturday.

“Our sights at the moment are focused just on the Manikato.”

Oliveanotherday is currently a $3 favourite with Sportsbet in the futures market for the Manikato Stakes at Caulfield on September 27.