Cranbourne’s Robbie Griffiths has opted to send Group 2 star Rey Magnerio interstate, believing the gelding is ready for a bigger challenge than what lies at home.
A defence of the $1 million The Meteorite (1200m) at Cranbourne was available, but Griffiths has instead locked in a Group 1 mission—next Friday week’s Winterbottom Stakes (1200m) in Perth.
“He leaves Sunday (16th) to go to Sydney, and then he flies from Sydney to Perth, and he should be there late Monday night,” Griffiths said.
Fresh off a brilliant first-up victory in the Group 2 Caulfield Sprint (1000m), Rey Magnerio was luckless when dashing home late for third in the Listed Century Stakes (1000m), a race Griffiths feels he should have won.
“He should have won easily,” Griffiths lamented.
“He just got into awkward spots, and in a 1000 metre race, you can’t have anything go wrong.
“He’s ended up sort of zigzagging everywhere, which is a shame. But the horse’s performance was very, very good.”
Despite never racing beyond Victorian borders, Rey Magnerio is no stranger to high pressure, boasting four Group 1 appearances, including a third in the Oakleigh Plate.
“We actually think the bigger track suits him a bit better than Cranbourne,” Griffiths said.
“Cranbourne, you’ve got to be sort of in a key spot, and last year we thought, because he raced forward, it took away a little bit of his sort of finish.
“Plus, we were going to go (to Perth) last year but we ended up electing for The Meteorite, so this year we thought we’d give it a crack.”
Skipping the Group 1 Champions Sprint was deliberate, with Griffiths preferring a softer lead-up to Perth.
“We kept him at the 1,000 (metres) so he didn’t have too many hard runs; he had a pretty solid run at Caulfield first up,” Griffiths said.
“So we thought the 1,000 would be a lot easier than trying to take on the Champions Sprint.
“That way it gives him an extra couple of days to recover, knowing that he’s got to travel for the first time, so we thought that was a better lead in to the Winterbottom.”
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