The Little Pumper out to win big in Tapp-Craig

Trainers Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott are hoping their decision to pause The Little Pumper’s winter preparation will reap spring carnival rewards, starting in the $500,000 Tapp-Craig at Rosehill.

The three-year-old collected back-to-back wins in June and July but found himself at an awkward juncture in the calendar after finishing fifth to Kintyre in benchmark company just two weeks into the new season.

With few suitable races looming, Waterhouse and Bott decided their best option was to give The Little Pumper a short break and have him on fresh legs for some later carnival targets.

“He was up early heading into the spring and we were getting quite deep into it (his campaign) without finding suitable races for him, so it was a bit stop-start for him in terms of his preparation,” Bott said.

“We said this and the Callander-Presnell might be nice targets for him down the road, so we just had to time his run.

“He’s had a little freshen-up and he should be forward enough to Saturday. He looks great.”

The Little Pumper will be ridden by Tulloch Lodge’s go-to man in Sydney, Tim Clark, and has drawn nicely in barrier three.

Clark will also partner stablemate Royal Tribute in the Group 2 Roman Consul Stakes (1200m) as that colt looks to turn the tables on last start conqueror Ozzmosis.

After scoring an impressive first-up win at Hawkesbury, Royal Tribute was no match for Ozzmosis in the Heritage Stakes (1100m), finishing fourth, but with a slight distance rise and different race set-up, Bott is keeping the faith.

“Whether the Hawkesbury run just took a little bit of the brilliance out of him because he was very effective first-up and he just wasn’t able to quicken away from Ozzmosis when we wanted to,” Bott said.

“In saying that, Ozzmosis is a very good horse and he was able to put the pressure on us very early and make it difficult for us. Maybe the 1200 might open up a different style of race for him.

“But I feel our horse is in good shape, he’s trained on well and he can improve, although there is no doubt he has to to try to turn the tables.”