Low barrier a boon for Insurrection

Insurrection has camped on the speed in all five of his career wins, but trainer Michael Freedman won’t be surprised to see a different scenario unfolding when the horse lines up in The Warra at Kembla Grange.

The $300,000 sprint has attracted a handy field of 14, several of them go-forward horses, and while Freedman has an open mind on tactics, he says barrier two will give apprentice Zac Lloyd the liberty to position the horse to suit the race.

“There looks to be a lot of speed on paper over the 1000, so that draw potentially gives Zac a few options on where he wants to be in the run,” Freedman said.

“He doesn’t necessarily have to lead, wide gates have more dictated that than anything in his past few runs.

“From the soft draw he can decide whether he wants to take a sit behind the speed, which I think he’s capable of doing.”

Insurrection strung together three wins in a row last preparation, all over 1100 metres.

However, his 1000-metre record is first class with two wins and two seconds from four starts over the short-course journey.

He tackles The Warra second-up after resuming with a fourth to Saturday’s rival Hard To Say at Randwick on Melbourne Cup day when he had a difficult run from a sticky draw.

“He was three-wide with no cover all the way, he had a tough run from his wide gate,” Freedman said.

“He didn’t have much luck and he did get a bit tired late, but he was entitled to. I thought it was a good enough run and he seems to have trained on alright.

“It’s a pretty handy race, as you’d expect with good prizemoney on offer, so it’s not an easy race but I think he can run well.”

Lloyd will be shooting for back-to-back wins in The Warra after taking it out last year aboard Athelric, who will be among Insurrection’s rivals on Saturday.

Inaugural victor Eleven Eleven will also line up for trainer Greg Hickman, while Shelby Sixtysix is an early scratching and will instead contest a 1000m benchmark race on the undercard.