Racing: Bailey not likely to force issue

BRISBANE - Trainer Alan Bailey will head to Doomben today more in hope than with any great expectations for his two runners, Fantastic Force and Brave The Way.

Fantastic Force, a A$600,000 buy at the New Zealand Premier sales in 2008, will make his comeback in the QHA Handicap (1350m), while Magic Millions graduate Brave The Way resumes in the Hardy Brothers Jewellers Handicap (1200m).

Fantastic Force, a son of Zabeel, has been fitted for his return with two barrier trials at Doomben and the Gold Coast, while Falbrav gelding Brave The Way has trialled once on his home track.

Bailey has no major plans in mind for Fantastic Force, who he took to Sydney in June when he failed on a heavy track at Randwick.

The 4-year-old has won three of his seven starts, including successive victories at the Gold Coast and Ipswich in May and June.

He hasn't started since he returned from Sydney to finish second to Lochiel in a 1600m race for 3-year-olds at Eagle Farm on July 24.

"I took him to Sydney for the experience," Gold Coast-based Bailey said.

"He was a young colt then but he didn't strike the right type of track at Randwick.

"I don't think he likes wet tracks and is better on good ground but he's done a fair amount of work for this run and I hope he'll run a fair race.

"He's no world-beater, though."

Bailey rates Brave The Way as the superior horse of the two at this stage of their careers and is aiming the 4-year-old at the Magic Millions Stayer's Cup (1800m) at the Gold Coast in January.

Brave The Way ran last in his 1000m barrier trial at the Gold Coast last week and hasn't started since finishing second to World Wide in the Grafton Guineas (1600m) on July 14.

Brave The Way, who is out of the Zabeel mare La Belle Diamante, previously finished an unlucky fourth to Fifteen Carat in the Sunshine Coast Guineas (1600m) at Caloundra on July 3.

"This race will probably be too short for him tomorrow," Bailey said yesterday. "He should have won the Caloundra Guineas when he got chopped out at the start and at Grafton he raced well with a big weight and only got beaten half a length."

- AAP