Peter Gelagotis is hoping change of scenery can trigger a change in form with rising seven-year-old Sermon.

Formerly trained by Robbie Laing at Cranbourne, Sermon won the 2009 Cranbourne Cup last October.

Since then he has failed to recapture anywhere near that winning form in five attempts.

“He won the Cranbourne Cup and it’s a listed race and that form line was around the same time Savquaw won the Moe Cup,” Gelagotis told the Virtual Formguide.

“The races are only four or five days apart and the form-line were very strong.

“To win the Cranbourne Cup you have to have a bit of ability and I also rate Savquaw highly in my stable.

“It’s just a matter of rekindling that form,” he added.

The horse with a history of wind problems was transferred to Gelagotis’ Moe stables as several owners in Sermon also have a share in his stakes winning mare Floramour.

“I’ve only had the horse for three or four weeks now.”

“He was getting to the stage where the horse was aggressive and our setup is a bit quieter at Moe and so far so good.

“He won a trial at Moe and looked good happy doing it, he settled nice and hit the line okay.

“He didn’t appreciate the heavy, heavy going but his class seemed to get him over the line to win.”

The son of Octagonal will run in Saturday’s $70,000 The Chairman's Retirement Handicap (1400m) at Caulfield with Gelagotis more focused on gaining an insight on Sermon with a view to the future then tomorrow’s result.

The experimental nature of tomorrow’s race is underlined by the five gear changes applied to Sermon (Tongue Tie again, Blinkers Off first time, Norton Bit off again, Lugging Bit off first time, Butterfly Bit first time).

“On Saturday we have Damien Oliver on to give us an assessment as to where we’re at.”

“I don’t think 1400 metres is his right distance but like any other nice stayer, if he can relax and hit the line I’d be pretty happy.

“I think he’s a pretty smart horse if we can get him right over 2000 metres – his best distance is between 1800 to 2200 metres,” he added.

Boasting a record of five wins and nine placings from 39 starts, Sermon has accumulated over $310,000 in prizemoney.

Caulfield (Saturday)

Race 8 @ 4:20pm (EST) - $70,000 The Chairman's Retirement Handicap (1400m)

Pictures: Greg Irvine & Colin Bull