Former champion trainer Glenn Mendez has made known the next target for his champion and reigning "Horse Of The Year", Juice Man, the Independence Cup set for August 31 (Independence Day). Last season's top three-year-old has shown that he has trained on and his win last Saturday was no doubt impressive.
Juice Man took the feature Handicap for horses rated 80 and over going over a distance of 1,750 metres at Santa Rosa Park, Arima in commanding fashion, pulling clear of his rivals in the final 300m for a superb victory.
In a release, Mendez said, "Juice Man returned to the races last Saturday and won comfortably. He has come out of the race in great shape and now we are keeping our fingers crossed and looking forward to lots of fun going forward. His next target will be the Independence Cup on August 31. This will be his first attempt on the turf."
On the race being moved to the main track, Mendez said, "We really wanted to get in a race on the turf track before the Independence Cup which will hopefully be his next start. He has worked on the surface and we expected to run well but that was not to be.
"The other horses who he will come up against like General JN and Apocalypse have never raced on the turf so we will all have to wait on Independence Day to have our first start on the turf track. I am of the belief that he will run well on the grass as his pedigree clearly points in that direction. But we are hopeful that the transition will be a positive one.
"At present, Juice Man is a fit and healthy horse and we hope he will remain in this manner. Really, he had an uninterrupted preparation and he galloped superbly in preparation for his last event."
Punters made the Mendez trained Juice Man the 3-5 favourite to take last Saturday's event and he never gave his backer any reason to worry, obliging by four and a quarter lengths from General JN and Thisonesforron.
Will Juice Man transfer his main track form to the turf? Only time will tell.