Clarken Racing | Clarken Racing News 53086 Caution On Luckys Lightning Hopes

Will Clarken has cautioned punters that are keen on Extremely Lucky in Saturday’s Listed Lightning Stakes (1050m) at Morphettville, admitting the exciting three-year-old is underdone for his first-up assignment.

While the Adelaide horseman has no doubts about the gelding’s ability – he already rates the son of Extreme Choice as the one of the most talented horses to reside in his stable – he fears the horse could be vulnerable at the end of the race against proven Stakes winners.

The untapped sprinter has been given two quiet trials this campaign and Clarken feels a raceday hitout will bring his fitness on even further.

After a brilliant debut in December when trained by Sam Burford, Extremely Lucky joined Clarken’s stable earlier this year and, after two eye-catching runs in the autumn, broke through for his new connections with a four-length victory at Morphettville on Goodwood Day.

Extremely Lucky is the $4 Sportsbet favourite in Saturday’s Lightning, ahead of John Moloney’s gun filly Scorched Earth ($4.20) and Godolphin’s Danehill Stakes winner Kallos ($4.40).

“He’s as exciting a horse we’ve had through our stable,” Clarken said.

“He’s going terrific but he is going into the race very underdone.

“He’s had two jump outs and in one of them he wasn’t asked for any effort whatsoever.

“I know that there’s heaps of improvement to come.

“He’s such a good athlete and he’s obviously a very exciting horse so I think he’s going to run really well but that last 50m, he could be feeling the pinch.

“Whether he’s got the class to still get the job done, he probably does.”

WATCH: Extremely Lucky wins at Morphettville in May.

Clarken, who won the Lightning Stakes in 2021 with subsequent Group 1 performer Beau Rossa, said a series of 1000m Stakes races at The Valley throughout August and September were on the radar for Extremely Lucky, who could tackle the Group 1 Moir Stakes on AFL Grand Final eve if his form warrants it.

“I’m sure that he’s a really good horse,” he said.

“If he can run well on Saturday, then we can give him three or four weeks between runs and then there’s those 1000m races at The Valley – I think it’s the Carlyon Stakes and the McEwen Stakes - leading into the Moir.

“They sit there really nicely for him at the moment.

“He’s a horse that, when he gets to the better level, he’s more than likely going to lose more races than he wins, purely because of his racing pattern but he has got that extreme - pardon the pun - change of gear.”