By MIKE DILLON
Eighty five per cent is how fit Jim Wallace judges Cent Home went into Saturday's $100,000 Mudgway Partsworld Stakes.
Which makes him a serious chance to pick up a million dollars in a Melbourne spring campaign.
The remarkable feature of the win was the odds on offer.
The TAB's early fixed odds had him at $12 and even with four minutes to start time on Saturday he was at $7.40.
Someone had a late crack to reduce the the starting price to $5.20, but even that, for a horse who has proved himself as good as anything around, was startling.
"I guess everyone thought that with 10 months off the scene there was a chance he might not be ready for it, and they were entitled to that thought," said Wallace.
But he knew better.
"He'd been in work a long time and he was ready to do something."
It is difficult to get your head around the fact Cent Home has been to the races only 11 times.
Several factors made the win sensational:
He was in trouble copping backwash in the second half of the field for the first 800m.
His inexperience saw him duck in sharply as he was challenging at the 350m.
He ran out of condition before he grabbed the leaders Cheiron and Buster Brookfield at the 75m, but still managed to outfinish them.
Wallace admits that while he was confident that even 85 per cent fitness was enough to get a decent race out of Cent Home, he had a niggling worry about the horse returning to his best.
"We hoped he was back, but after a long break you never know."
One factor Wallace is not worrying about is Cent Home having such a gut-buster when most horses would not be ready for it and would be flattened as a result.
"He came home and ate up just about all his feed and he's fine.
Which will come in handy when Cent Home goes back to Melbourne after his disastrous trip for the Mackinnon Stakes last spring in which he failed completely to find the form which won him the Kelt Capital Stakes and Captain Cook Stakes in consecutive starts before leaving.
Everything went wrong on that trip.
"It was rushed and I decided to do it only because I wanted him to have the experience in Australia with this year in mind."
Cent Home did not leave until the Tuesday before the Mackinnon and his dodgy temperament let him down when he was locked in the outer parade ring when saddled while a 20 minute inquiry into the VRC Derby took place.
"He couldn't settle after that and had run his race before they jumped," said Wallace. "This time he'll get all the time in the world to settle into his new surroundings."
The stabling last year was perfect for Cent Home - Flemington trainer Leon Corstens was under suspension and Cent Home had a wing of Corsten's stable to himself.
"Leon's back training now and his stable is full as I understand, so I'm flying over tomorrow to see what I can arrange.
"Flemington is wonderful over where we were in the back straight because it's lovely and quiet, but I might see if I can get into Caulfield because my sister lives a few minutes down the road from the course and I can stay with her.
"We're going back with a better game plan this time."
Cent Home is booked to fly to Melbourne on Saturday night and will run in the $A250,000 Craiglee Stakes at Flemington the following week.
Australian bookmakers offered as much as 66-1 about Cent Home's Caulfield Cup chances a week ago. That price reduced to 50-1 before Saturday's race and is now into 33-1.
"We were impressed by the win, it was certainly something different to what he did in the Mackinnon Stakes last year," said Brian Taylor, manager for Double Bet.
Racing: Fully fit Cent Home would be dangerous
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