There’s a lot riding on the result of the Futurity Stakes – and not just for those horses racing in the Group One weight-for-age contest.
The performance of race favourite All Too Hard at Caulfield on Saturday is likely to have a major impact on the complexion of the following week’s Group One Australian Guineas.
The Hawkes Racing team has stated its intention to target the Futurity (1400m) and Australian Guineas (1600m) with All Too Hard.
He is a dominant favourite to win both.
And with that, trainers of other Guineas hopefuls will no doubt be keeping a close eye on the star three-year-old when he takes on older horses again at Caulfield.
Victory to All Too Hard in the Futurity will only confirm his favouritism for Flemington but defeat would surely lift the spirits of those holding on to Guineas ambitions.
“The Futurity is the main aim as his next start and then obviously we’ll see how he runs on Saturday and half make a decision after that,” All Too Hard’s co-trainer Wayne Hawkes said.
It will then be a matter of waiting until early next week to make sure the colt is ready to go again in the Guineas.
“When you are backing a horse up, you’ve got to be spot on,” Hawkes said.
“If you’re not you’re on a hiding to nothing by running.”
While the Guineas is still over a week away, the Futurity provides All Too Hard with the opportunity to complement his first-up success in the C F Orr Stakes when he became the first three-year-old in a decade to win the 1400m event.
The half-brother to champion Black Caviar is expected to have improved off that outing where he came from the second half of the field to win.
“When he got to the front he probably nearly had enough, so there’s plenty of improvement left in him,” Hawkes said.
All Too Hard’s Futurity Stakes opposition includes last year’s winner King Mufhasa and the resuming Green Moon, who hasn’t been seen since taking out the Melbourne Cup in November.
The Futurity will also provide a pointer to the Australian Cup with Green Moon the early favourite for next month’s $1 million race.
