Star Duo Hold No Fears For Elson In New Years Trophy

TRAVIS Elson does not care that top grade stars Orchestrate and Shipwreck are drawn to clash with his Hello Mike in Thursday night's New Years Trophy (520m) at Albion Park.

Travis is beaming with confidence about Hello Mike (Fernando Bale-Hay Cyndie) which goes into the Trophy off a near record 29.49, the sixth fastest time ever run at Albion Park.

“And, I've been praying that he comes up with the rails and that's what he's got,” said Travis.

FIELDS AND FORM ALBION PARK THURSDAY NIGHT

Shipwreck will comes out of the six but significantly for him with a vacant box on his inside.

And, Group 1 Brisbane Cup winner Orchestrate has drawn perfectly in the seven to set up what will be a thrilling contest.

Orchestrate resumed from an injury-enforced spell with a scorching 24.64 win at Ipswich on December 17.

But Travis Elson is confident.

“I gave him a couple of weeks off after he ran 29.49 and he will be going into this race a little bit underdone, not much, but a little,” said Travis.

That scorching run was no surprise to Travis.

“He had won a couple of runs before that in 29.79 on a really wet track when nothing else broke 30 seconds on the night,” he said.

“The track was at least three-tenths slow.”

Hello Mike came into Travis' kennel from his parents Bill and Cyndie after “an indiscretion”.

“I got four of them and was told Cincinnati Bill is the best but I've had nothing but trouble with him,” said Travis.

“But, Hello Mike has never put a foot wrong and in fact has grown a leg.

“He has not missed a placed in seven runs since I got him. I think his problem was a confidence thing which was caused by a run of bad box draws.

“The rails gives him a great opportunity to stay confident.”

Travis' main aim for Hello Mike is the upcoming match race series, the Group 3 Golden Ticket coming up in the middle of January.

“He's easily the fastest dog I've trained,” said Travis.

“While he might be a little underdone, he is still coming off seven weeks of racing and training, so he will be right.”