IMPORTED galloper Constantinople gets his chance to win his first Australian race in a $130,000 race at Flemington on Saturday, according to Aaron Purcell.
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Constantinople lines up for start 16 in Australia, but only the seventh for Purcell when he runs in the benchmark 78 over 2500 metres.
Purcell parted with $70,000 purchasing Constantinople for stable clients in an on-line auction in June this year after the import had nine starts for the Hayes stable.
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The group one winning trainer said Constantinople is destined for a jumping career but a win on the flat would be a great result.
"Constantinople is a get back in the run horse," he told The Standard.
"Constantinople needs a lot of luck in his races but he hasn't had much since he joined our stable.
"He keeps on running into trouble in the run. This is the easiest race he's run in Australia.
"It's a benchmark 78 and we had him entered for the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups but he never got runs. Saturday's race is a big drop in class from what he's been running in."
Purcell has called on the services of Declan Bates to ride the import on Saturday.
"Declan's a very good jockey," he said.
"I don't need to load Declan with instructions. I'm just hoping Constantinople gets a trouble free run and if we do I'm confident he'll run well.
"Braidon Small has schooled Constantinople over the jumpers and we believe he's got a great future at the jumping caper but it would be nice to get a win on the flat for his connections."
Constantinople is rated a $31 chance in the early betting markets for the race.
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