Despite having half as many race starts as any rival, Repossession to show inexperience no object in Beaufine

Despite patently being the least experienced runner in the field and only a week on from a setback, Repossession can show he’s the real deal in the Listed $125,000 Beaufine Stakes (1000m) at Pinjarra. With just six starts to his name and all his rivals having at least double that, the three-year-old sprinting sensation is a hot $2.25 favourite for the clash after dominating an easier assignment over the track and trip almost a month ago. His preparation was scuppered when scratched from another Pinjarra event with a hoof abscess just seven days ago, though this fails to trouble co-trainer Chris Gangemi. “The abscess came on Friday and had burst by Monday, and he had gallop Tuesday,” Gangemi said. “He didn’t miss much work, and he was ready to go over 1200m. If he ran well last week, we were always going to back-up in this. “He’s going to the paddock after tomorrow win, lose, or draw. “He probably could’ve picked a couple of these races up through the winter but if we kept going, we wouldn’t have time to have a decent break and bring him back for the Ascot carnival. “The Winterbottom is the dream, but a race like the Colonel Reeves will tell us whether he’s good enough.” His regular rider, Brad Parnham, is in the midst of his greatest-ever season in the saddle and returns to the irons after apprentice Ryan Houston was used to claim a 3kg allowance last start. “I do think he probably is the horse with the most potential in the race; he’s only a three-year-old and he’s shown us quite a bit to date,” Parnham told SEN. “He shows pace himself, but this is obviously a race that’s going to have fair bit of pace in it. “I’m just going to try to keep him under wraps and keep him held together early. “I’ll let him show his best work late and he should be good enough.” Chris and Michael Gangemi have a second string to their assault with proven seven-year-old Phanta a $13 hope. Not seen since October last year, Phanta thrives on affected going and has registered five wins from nine starts on soft tracks throughout his career. “I think he’s going good. With this rain in the last month or so, his work has improved out of sight,” Gangemi said. “We especially earmarked him for this time of year, and I was happy with his trial. “He’ll run a really cheeky race tomorrow. Around a bend, he wouldn’t be suited to 1000m but down the straight might be OK. “If he can be near the leaders on the outside, he’s a chance.” Notwithstanding his usual front-running status, Phanta has never started in a race as short as 1000m prior to Saturday.