Bendigo trainer Matthew Enright excited about Wertheimer return

The six-year-old gelding will have his first run in a campaign Bendigo trainer Matthew Enright hopes leads to another start in the Bendigo Jockey Club's premier race.

His appearance in the benchmark 64 handicap over 1500m will be Wertheimer's first start this year.

The son of Tavistock and Wild About Me has not run since finishing in the back half of the field over 2500m at Moonee Valley last Christmas Eve.

He has trialled twice this month, at Bendigo (September 5) and Echuca (September 18).

Enright said Wertheimer, who finished fourth in last year's Bendigo Cup, won by subsequent Melbourne Cup placegetter High Emocean, would be in obvious need of the run.

"To be quite honest, I thought his trial the other day was a bit ordinary, but the inside (of the track) was not the place to be; it was quite wet in there as opposed to being out," he said.

"He trialled really well at Bendigo, but I wasn't that impressed (at Echuca), even though it was only 900m. I would have liked to have seen a bit more at the end of that.

"However, the jockey assured me he trialled fine, so I'm going to Bendigo (on Wednesday) hoping it was just the track at Echuca.

"He'll be ridden quiet to run on."

Enright stressed the long break between preparations had been by design and not due to anything being amiss with the horse.

"I purposely gave him a decent spell, as he'd never really had one before," he said.

"But he's been in work quite a while; probably five months. He's had a good grounding.

"His work has been fine, but from my point of view I was a little disappointed in the trial.

"But when the track played a part and the jockey tells me he's okay, I feel it's time to race him and see what he brings to the party."

"He'll probably follow the same path as last year. I ran him at Bendigo and then we went to 2000m in the Murtoa Cup and 2100m at Horsham (in the cup) and into the Bendigo Cup.

"We'll get a bit of a guide of where he is at on Wednesday."

Unplaced over 1400m at Bendigo in his run before the Murtoa Cup last year, Wertheimer finished an unlucky fourth at Murtoa before a brave second in the Horsham Cup two weeks later.

Well up in grade in the Group 3 Bendigo Cup, he ran the race of his life, challenging for the lead at the 200m before peaking on his run to finish less than two-lengths behind High Emocean in fourth.

He went on to place fourth in the Werribee Cup before having one last start at Moonee Valley.

It will be a case of 'nearly all hands on deck' for Enright on Wednesday, with his highly-touted former New Zealand Group and Listed race winner Buoyantsea second-up from a spell and the five-year-old stayer Salassi also returning from a long spell.

He has clear expectations for all three stable representatives.

"I'm hoping Buoyantsea wins and I hope the other two find the line well," he said.

"I'm picking 1300m will probably be too short for Salassi. He likes it longer, but he's only had two trials, while Wertheimer has had three trials, so he can go to 1500m.

"It's just a kicking off point for those two."

Purchased from New Zealand interests earlier this year, but scratched on Golden Mile day when he was set to make his Australian debut, Buoyantsea finally had his first start for Enright at Moonee Valley earlier this month, finishing at the back of a small six horse field.

His trainer is expecting strong improvement.

"He pulled up with a foot problem, but he'd also been having a bit of an issue with an ingrown hair, so I'm wondering whether, with the little saddle, it was sitting right on it," Enright said.

"I think (the saddle) was sitting in the wrong place because you couldn't trial that well and go so badly. He showed a hell of a lot more in his jump-out before hand.

"So I'm putting that behind me and moving on.

"He's trained on well and hasn't missed a beat.

"He's obviously not at his peak, but I'm expecting him to be reasonably hard to beat."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: