NO RUSSIAN INTO FUTURITY RUN
MELBOURNE Cup-winning trainer Danny O’Brien will stick with his original plan to run Russian Camelot in the All-Star Mile first-up, instead of switching the stallion to Saturday’s Group 1 Futurity Stakes at Caulfield.
Russian Camelot was one of 13 entries for the Group 1 Futurity Stakes on Monday, but O’Brien decided against running the dual Group 1 winner in the $500,000 contest.
With Russian Camelot safely inside the top 10 All-Star Mile votegetters, O’Brien does not need to run the four-yearold in the Futurity Stakes, which offers an All-Star Mile wildcard to the winner.
“He’s still not running. He’s still going first-up into the AllStar Mile,” O’Brien said.
“He worked on the course proper this morning, but he’ll trial on Friday instead.”
Trainers Ciaron Maher and David Eustace are also likely to bypass the Futurity Stakes with Cox Plate winner Sir Dragonet.
O’Brien will test Victoria Derby placegetter Young Werther second-up in the Group 2 Autumn Classic (1800m).
O’Brien was quick to dismiss Young Werther’s first-up run in the Group 2 Autumn
Stakes (1400m) as a form reference, after the gelding finished more than eight lengths from the winner Poland.
The Autumn Stakes was run at a hectic speed in the early and middle stages, which left Young Werther out of contention by the halfway point.
“I think we can just forget that run,” O’Brien said. “They got him off the bridle as soon as they left the gates and he got detached from the field.
“His last 200(m) was all right, but it was all over too quickly.”
O’Brien said Young Werther had progressed well from his first-up run and would enjoy the slower tempo of an 1800m race on Saturday.
“He worked super this (Tuesday) morning,” O’Brien said. “We’re happy with him, but this will be a race where we get a true indication of where we’re at.”