Pride's Poison Chalice eyes Civic Stakes success

Joseph Pride, a trainer known for elevating tried horses, is now guiding the talented gelding Poison Chalice.

The six-year-old Savabeel progeny was formerly trained by Paul Preusker in Horsham, with his last run being a tenth-place finish in the Listed Ballarat Cup (2000m).

While Poison Chalice has not yet won beyond benchmark company, he has frequently been competitive in Group races, coming closest when runner-up in the Group 3 Eclipse Stakes (1800m) in the Spring of 2024.

Pride is looking forward to assessing the new stable addition more thoroughly in the Listed Civic Stakes (1400m) at Royal Randwick on Saturday.

"Poison Chalice raced down in Melbourne, he's a nice Savabeel horse," Pride remarked. "He's going well, he trialled up, there's improvement to come but he should run well."

"He's raced up over a mile to 2000 metres, we'll kick him off at seven furlongs and see how he goes. Lovely horse, hasn't changed ownership, they've got a really nice horse."

Poison Chalice has been put through two trials to prepare for this campaign. He showed considerable improvement in his most recent Warwick Farm trial, where he raced on the speed and finished second over 791 metres, with Pride confirming the horse has adapted well to Sydney.

"Getting them on the Sydney leg can be a bit overstated," Pride commented. "When they come to you at the start of the preparation, he's been in work for the last ten to twelve weeks and he's done it all on the Sydney leg, and he seems to have adjusted well."

Joining Poison Chalice is Cool Jakey, a noted front-runner who was a decisive winner at benchmark 94 level last start. Pride is confident Cool Jakey is in prime condition for another tilt at Listed company.

The racing markets are already buzzing about the Civic Stakes, with many punters exploring the racing betting markets.