Rain stalls Man Of Action again so Saturday night at Albion Park is a watch only race

If you extrapolated Man Of Action’s 8765 form line, you’d think he might run fourth at Albion Park on Saturday night.

And if he manages that, trainer Al Barnes says he’ll be very happy as the horse is still not quite at peak fitness.

“He’s improving with every run but he’ll still need the hit-out as he missed fast work on Tuesday. It rained all day Monday and Tuesday - we must have had another 100ml.”

Barnes says whereas Man Of Action’s health was originally the hold-up - he failed to handle the very high temperatures - for the last two weeks it’s been rain which has been the problem.

“We’ve had a ridiculous amount of rain and our little 650 metre track got flooded.”

Barnes says once he can train and race Man Of Action consistently he’s sure he’ll recapture his form.

“I’ve found when we can train them over two strong trips on Tuesday and Thursday and race on the Saturday it’s enough to keep them fit.

On a rain drenched Redcliffe track, Man Of Action, outer, finishes on strongly for Hayden Barnes to feature in the minor money.“But Man Of Action didn’t quite run out his second 2400 metre trip on Thursday so he’ll be in need of the race. He won’t be any worse than last week but he won’t be any better.”

At Redcliffe last Thursday, on a very rain-affected track, Man Of Action settled three back in the running line but was last at the 400 then forced four and five wide round the home bend.

His finishing burst was the best in the field and even though he ran only fifth, 11.9 metres from Bettathanideal, his closing 800 and 400 splits of 57.62 and 29.06 were second only to the winner.

“He should land in a good position from two on Saturday night,” says Barnes. “He’ll hold his position out of the gate but he won’t be able to cross the one (Ifoundthebeach) so we’ll conserve his energy for the last 400 metres.”

Man Of Action races at 8.41pm NZ time at Albion Park on Saturday night.