Les Vampires will shift his attention to the Gosford Gold Cup (2100m) this weekend, a decision made with one eye on a potential start in the Big Dance later this year.
The gelding was originally nominated for both the Gold Cup and the $500,000 The Coast (1600m), but his team elected to withdraw from the latter, believing the longer trip is more suitable at this stage of his preparation.
“We started to put him out in trip last start and he did a good job in that regard. He is probably better suited going further out in trip at this stage of his preparation, rather than trying to come back to a sharper mile,” co-trainer Adrian Bott said.
“It will be a new test for him in grade and distance. We probably won’t run him too much past Saturday, he has done a good job, but it would open up a few nice options for him as well.
“Obviously it’s a Big Dance qualifier and that would be a great race for him down the road if he was able to feature on Saturday.”
Les Vampires was a high-level performer as a three-year-old, including a placing in the Hobartville Stakes, before undergoing throat surgery. He’s made a successful return, including a front-running win over 1800m at Randwick.
Stablemate New Endeavour is also set to contest the Gold Cup after a solid third in the JRA Plate (2000m). Bott is confident the horse will enjoy the conditions at Gosford.
“He’s had a short freshen up between runs and hopefully that’s the key, keeping him a little bit fresh,” Bott said.
“This distance should also help as well so it might be a nice race for him and we can see what’s in store for him after Saturday.”
In The Coast, Tulloch Lodge will rely on Townsend, who is expected to show marked improvement from his first-up effort over the same trip.
“Even the mile is short of his best but I think you’ll see a big improvement on his first-up run anyway,” Bott said.
“He will be trying to get out in trip later in the campaign. Potentially there are a couple of nice races in Queensland, unless he sticks around in Sydney for any of those winter Cups races, but he was getting out to those sort of trips last preparation and he was effective.”
Townsend is second-up this Saturday and has never missed the placings in his three-mile starts. For all betting opportunities on this weekend’s features, head to our betting sites list for expert offers and odds comparisons.
