Morgan The “Big Improver” For Townsville Cup

FEDERAL Morgan will be a “big improver” when he lines up for the Group 3 Townsville Cup (498m) on Friday night.

That's the opinion of the dog's trainer Darren Johnstone of the son of Barcia Bale and Absolute Beaut which ran 28.69 on debut at the track when running the fastest of the four Cup heats last week.

Johnstone's confidence stems from the fact he headed to Townsville a day earlier than last week to give his dog more time to get over the plane flight from Brisbane and build up his weight.

The dog had suffered from the flight last week and Johnstone was taking no risks in the lead-up to the group 3 finale.

“I purposely put an extra half a kilo on him during the week leading up to Wednesday's flight,” Johnstone said.

“I normally like him to race about 32.0 kilos. Before the flight I had him up to 32.8 kilos.

TOWNSVILLE CUP PROGRAM FIELDS AND FORM

“But, by the time we got to Townsville, I weighed him and he had lost one and a half kilos. He was down to 31.3 kilos.

“By this morning (Thursday) he was already back up. And, now I've got an extra day to keep building him up and then maintain his weight how it should be.”

Johnstone still believes Hara's Panda off the rails box in the final is the one to beat.

“But, I'm really expecting my bloke to be a big improver,” he said.

“I'm more confident this week.”

Johnstone said he had done virtually nothing with Federal Morgan since his heat victory.

“I've kept him really fresh this week and on Wednesday morning I put him on the walking machine just to loosen him up for the flight to Townsville,” he said.

“The box draw out in the seven is fine by me.

“I'm not sure Oh Mickey will get as much luck in running as he did in the heat.

“Hara's Panda had his chance to run us down in our heat, but I still need to be close to him down the back straight.

“Stinger Noir beat us two lengths in the state final of the National Sprint a few weeks back and he is fairly well boxed out in the eight.

“He will be hard to beat as well.”

Federal Morgan's stress during the flight to Townsville has surprised Johnstone and caught him off guard before the heats last week.

“He is such a laid back dog at home, not stressful at all,” he said.