No Apology needed trip east

Stephen Miller expects to learn more about what the remainder of No Apology’s belated debut Victorian campaign will look like after he runs at Sandown this Saturday.

The 1800-metre third heat of the Banjo Paterson Series will be the second start in an eastern-state campaign that started on May 2 with the Warrnambool Cup, in which he beat home all but runaway winner Mystery Island.

The seven-year-old drops back 550m this weekend, but Miller said his charge has freshened up nicely since the Warrnambool Cup and he was keen to see how he performed at a lesser trip.

“I don’t think that (dropping back in distance) should be a problem because it’s been a bit over three weeks in between runs, so that should suit him,” the Western Australian trainer said.

“If he runs well on Saturday then he’ll head to the next (heat) and the one after and we’ll see where we end up.

“Whether he’s up to it, we’ll find out. If we can get another three or four runs into him, that’d be great.

“We’re going to have a bit of a crack and see what happens.”

No Apology, who is based at Lindsey Smith’s Warrnambool stable while in Victoria, has been allocated 55kg in the benchmark 100 handicap in which Smokin’ Romans heads the weights at 62kg.

Last year’s Australian Cup placegetter Pounding (60kg), quality import Normandy Bridge (58.5kg), last-start Sydney winner Let’srollethedice (57kg) and Junipal (57kg) are among the other 17 nominations.

Miller would be happy to see Sandown hold the Soft 5 rating it had on Tuesday morning with the prospect of wet tracks a major factor behind his decision to send the son of Declaration Of War east after 56 starts in WA.

“He’s sort of limited over here because there’s not many staying races on over here until, realistically, Kalgoorlie (in early spring) and he does go well on a wet track,” Miller said.

“I thought the options of getting a wet track in Melbourne are pretty high and he’s just on that grade which is a bit below the top horses.

“He should be able to hold his own and earn a bit of stakemoney over there, I’m hoping.”