A frustrating autumn is a distant memory for trainer Jason Warren who is brimming with enthusiasm as he prepares Bel Sprinter to fulfil his Group One destiny.
The gelding was scratched from the Newmarket Handicap on race morning with a leg issue and came out of the barriers too slowly to be effective in the Galaxy in Sydney.
After a well-deserved break, Bel Sprinter is almost ready to return to the track with the news Black Caviar will miss the spring sprints an added bonus.
“Everything went AWOL in the autumn,” Warren said.
“He had an interrupted campaign and nothing went right.
“He’s had a good break and has furnished into a lovely horse.
“He’s back at the stable doing even time and getting ready to step up to a gallop.”
Bel Sprinter will have a barrier trial at Cranbourne on Tuesday week with a view to starting over 1000 metres at Moonee Valley on August 25.
“The Manikato is the race he is being set for,” said Warren who has added the Patinack Farm Classic to the program now that dual winner Black Caviar won’t be there.
The Manikato Stakes (1200n) will be run under lights at Moonee Valley on October 26 while the Patinack Farm over the same distance is on the final day of the Melbourne Cup carnival at Flemington.
The winner of five of his nine starts, Bel Sprinter is a son of Group One winning sprinter Bel Esprit, sire of Black Caviar.
Based on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, Warren had mixed fortunes in two states on Saturday with three-year-old Proper Madam out of the placings in the Inglis Bonus at Canterbury while Moonee Valley specialist Freereturn made a comeback to winning form.
The trainer’s attention will again turn to Sydney this week where three-year-old Pronto Pronto contests Saturday’s Listed Rosebud at Warwick Farm in the hope he can confirm a place in next month’s $1 million Golden Rose.
Runner-up in the Group Two VRC Sires’ Produce Stakes, Pronto Pronto won a barrier trial at Cranbourne last week.
“It was a very heavy track and he handled himself well,” Warren said.
“The Rosebud will let us know how he is going.
“The plan is for him to go into the Golden Rose third-up so he will come home for a race at Caulfield between the two Sydney races.”
