Phearson's bad luck with barriers continues in the Winter Challenge

Another wide alley awaits Phearson this weekend, but trainer Brad Widdup isn’t throwing in the towel—he says the tough luck map masks how well the horse is going and expects a bold run with the right breaks.

The veteran seven-year-old has been forced to drift back from awkward draws in both starts this prep and again lands deep in barrier 10 for Saturday’s Listed Winter Challenge (1500m) at Rosehill.

Even so, his closing sixth behind Estadio Mestalla in a pace‑controlled Winter Stakes (1400m) contained plenty of merit, and Widdup says the horse is thriving at home.

“He has been a very frustrating horse all his career but at the moment he’s flying,” Widdup said.

“It wouldn’t surprise me at all to see him run well.

“He just needs a bit of luck. He keeps drawing bad gates. He has been plagued by them.”

Phearson’s race pattern has flipped over time: once fierce, he’s now a backmarker—not entirely by design.

“We never wanted him to be like that (fierce) and we worked hard to get him to settle,” he said.

“Now he is settling but he’s not getting the right draws.

“I’d love him to begin a bit better. He has been a bit slow away which is not helping either, but bad barriers have probably taught him that.”

Tom Sherry stays aboard, while the stable will also roll out Bella Khadija in the Stuart Macdermid Handicap (1500m) with Chad Schofield to ride after she was withdrawn from Kensington midweek.

The Hawkesbury-based filly flashed ability when scoring first‑up and has trained on nicely.

“It’s a hard race but she gets a little bit of weight relief and it’s a Saturday race for three-year-olds,” he said.

“I don’t know if she can come out and win a Saturday race second-up but I just thought it was a better fit than running against older horses on Wednesday.”

Rounding out the Widdup trio is Art’s Alive, who lines up in the MyPlates Handicap (1200m) following a promising return for third behind Hi Dubai at Rosehill.

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