Group One targets beckon for New Zealander Cauthen this spring, but first he has to get past some smart horses on Saturday at Moonee Valley.
Cauthen is the $2.60 favourite for the Listed McKenzie Stakes (1200m) which has attracted a field of nine.
The three-year-old produced an outstanding Australian debut when he recovered to finish second to Clevadude at the Valley on August 3 after being checked midrace.
The two meet again on Saturday but they will also have to contend with the likes of the Peter Snowden-trained Long John who hasn’t started since he won the Listed Anzac Day Stakes at Flemington in April.
“This will be our hardest test so far,” said Cauthen’s trainer Andrew Campbell.
“It’s a good field but if we are going to the Caulfield Guineas we have to start fronting up.”
Cauthen, the early second favourite behind Prince Harada for the Guineas, was due to have a gallop at Moonee Valley on Tuesday but Campbell chose to miss it.
He felt the three-year-old could do without the trip to the city from the Whittlesea property where he is stabled.
“He’s pretty well right,” Campbell said.
“I just didn’t want to give him that trip there and back.”
Campbell is not concerned about Cauthen’s greenness at his first showing at Moonee Valley saying the colt is still learning.
His only other start was in New Zealand last month when he scored an 8-1/2 length win.
“He got squeezed up and over-reacted,” Campbell said of Cauthen’s Valley performance.
“He’s still a bit green but he made up for it in the end.”
Campbell said Cauthen’s next start after Saturday would be in the Listed Henry Bucks Stakes (1400m) at Flemington on September 7 followed by the Caulfield Guineas Prelude (1400m) on September 29.
The colt has also been nominated for the Cox Plate for which he is a $41 chance in early TAB fixed odds markets.
Campbell said the Cox Plate nomination was a bit of a dream but “you have to be in it to win it”.
