Clayton Douglas has his sights set on recapturing glory with talented sprinter Title Fighter bound for Flemington.

Set for the Listed Straight Six (1200m) on Saturday, Title Fighter looks to go back-to-back after accounting for Deekay in the previous running.

Prior to last year’s win, Title Fighter filled sixth behind Dashing in Warrnambool’s Listed Wangoom (1200m), this year improving to fourth place versus Oliveanotherday in that fixture.

Extra burden awaits this campaign as Title Fighter steps up from 54kg to 60kg in the Flemington assignment, compensated by Jamie Mott aboard, the state’s top jockey on 102 wins this season and trailing Craig Williams by a pair on the Melbourne Jockeys’ Premiership ladder.

The trainer revealed Title Fighter’s path to Saturday was plotted for a third-up assignment, aided by two preparatory 1200m gallops for the gelding.

Resuming, Title Fighter hit the line gamely fifth to Recon in the Listed Hareeba Stakes (1200m) held on Mornington Cup Day.

“He obviously won the race last year and it’s been a bit of a plan to keep him on a similar program this time,” Douglas said.

“These three runs have all be planned since the start of his campaign.

“He was good first-up, was good again last week behind a nice horse and hopefully he can get the job done third-up.

“We won’t have to do much with him this week after his run on that heavy track last time.

“He had a nice enough blow after the race on that heavy ground, so he should take plenty of improvement from it.”

Title Fighter matches the 60kg topweight carried by Shawn Mathrick’s Corniche in the race drawing 21 nominations including Pop Award, De Bergerac, Losesomewinmore, Wangoom second Immortal Star and Stoli Bolli.

The racing betting markets for the Straight Six are heating up with plenty of value on offer.

Ravichandran Ashwin has pointed out a chink in Abhishek Sharma’s armor following his early dismissal in SunRisers Hyderabad’s (SRH) 82-run defeat to Gujarat Titans (GT) in Ahmedabad on Tuesday, May 12. He kicked off his knock with six off Kagiso Rabada’s bowling, but was dismissed for six runs from four balls in the same over.

The former cricketer urged Abhishek to respect the conditions instead of looking to counterattack right from the outset. He suggested that batters like Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan will be more effective on pitches that offer some assistance to the bowlers.

Ashwin remarked in his latest YouTube video:

“Abhishek Sharma needs to work on this. T20 cricket has changed. Abhishek Sharma is picked in the Indian team because he plays a fearless brand of cricket. But if T20 cricket is given these kinds of pitches tomorrow, Sai Sudharsan and Shubman Gill will be more useful. I want T20 cricket to be played on such pitches. But not just these pitches, because the spinners were not in the game here. I want spinners to be in the game as well.”

The 39-year-old gave a car analogy to explain his point. He noted that a car cannot be driven at the same speeds on a highway and in a traffic jam.

“Abhishek Sharma hit a six off Kagiso Rabada with extension. This means that this guy has a lot of time and is very talented. His bat swing is very good. What did he do next? He exposed all three stumps. The ball came in, hit his chest, and he was bowled. Can’t Abhishek Sharma play that shot? He can. You can drive above 100 kmph on a highway and even up to 200 kmph, but who will die if you drive at the same speed in a traffic jam? Cricket is a game where conditions are the king,” he added.

SRH were bundled out for their lowest-ever IPL total of 86 while chasing a 169-run target. Sai Sudharsan and Washington Sundar slammed impressive half-centuries earlier in the game, helping GT post a competitive 168/5 in 20 overs.

“Go to the other end, build a partnership” – R Ashwin wants Abhishek Sharma to learn from Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma

R Ashwin also pointed out that proven campaigners like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma read the conditions well and bat accordingly. He suggested that Abhishek can learn that from the senior players.

The legendary spinner elaborated in the same video:

“I am the No. 1 fan of Abhishek Sharma, and I want to see him read these conditions and take a single. Go to the other end, build a partnership. King Kohli and Rohit Sharma are celebrated because they read the conditions well.”

Abhishek has amassed 481 runs across 12 innings at a strike rate of 209.13 in IPL 2026, currently placed third in the Orange Cap race.