Albany star Red Can Man chases second Group race victory in $1.5 million Damien Oliver Gold Rush at Ascot

Red Can Man has drawn favourably in his bid to secure a second Group race victory when the Albany star tackles the $1.5 million Damien Oliver Gold Rush at Ascot on Saturday. The Pinnacles feature race, named in honour of the retiring champion jockey, will be Red Can Man’s second crack at the Group 3 event. The Steve Wolfe-trained star ran fourth in the 2020 Railway Stakes and was fourth in the Winterbottom Stakes a fortnight ago — his best two finishes in Group 1 racing. He has run in a host of Group 1, 2 and 3 feature races and his only success came in the Group 3 Sir John Monash Stakes at Caulfield. Red Can Man finished a close-up fifth to The Astrologist in last year’s edition of the Gold Rush and Wolfe believes he is again one of the main contenders. The seven-year-old will again be ridden by Paul Harvey and drew barrier eight in the weight for age contest. “This and the Winterbottom were his main goals,” Wolfe said. “He was pretty unlucky in the Winterbottom I thought and he’s come through that fine. “His work (on Tuesday) was as good as it was in the lead-up to the Winterbottom and the barrier draw should play into his hands with speed inside him and most of the good ones drawn outside him. “So it’s all pretty positive for us.” Red Can Man rocketed home from 11th on the home turn to finish fourth, beaten by 3.4 lengths by interstate star Overpass in the Winterbottom Stakes on December 2 to collect $58,500 for Albany connections. The Gingerbread Man gelding ran the second fastest final 600m of that $1.5 million feature with a time of 33.63sec. and Wolfe says that has him primed for this next assignment. “He is always right there,” he said. “They earn money all the time and when you get to this level you take what you can get.” Victorian star Ayrton and Super Smink, who is second emergency in the race, were $6 favourites in betting this week. Red Can Man was listed as a $14 chance with TABtouch.