This morning’s work like the Nemo of old but Thursday’s draw is more than cruel

Captain Nemo’s work this morning showed he’s back to his old self but trainer Mark Dux knows the horse is right up against it from a punishing second row draw at Albion Park on Thursday.

Dux knew all was not well with Captain Nemo when he dropped out badly in his last run 17 days ago, finishing 47 metres from the winner.

Though he had a tough trip, having to work hard to find the death seat, Dux said Nemo would still normally have fought for all he was worth.

“It’s not like him to stop like that so I knew straight away something wasn’t right with him. Maybe the bug he’d had earlier in the month was still lingering.

“But he felt like the old Nemo when he worked today. He dashed up nicely, and wanted to do it, and that’s when you know he’s feeling all right.

“We only ran up the straight but he ran a quick last furlong in 13.1 and felt real good.”

Dux says he hasn’t drilled Nemo since his uncharacteristic flop but all seemed to be good with the horse again who had been racing much better than his formline suggested.

That doesn’t mean, however, that Nemo will be driven hard on Thursday when he will be reunited with top young gun Angus Garrard.

“We won’t be out there to make something happen. We’ll drive him cold and, if we have some luck, great.

“It’s not a super hard field, and I could see him finishing really strongly, but it will come down to luck. Art Jester, alongside us, is one of the main dangers, so we might get a reasonable run into the race.”

Captain Nemo races at 5.43pm NZ time at Albion Park on Thursday.