A tried and true method with imported horses will be adopted with the lightly raced Velox who is expected to make his debut at Caulfield.
Formerly trained by Luca Cumani in England, the David Hayes and Tom Dabernig-trained Velox has been nominated to contest a 1600m benchmark 90 race on Saturday.
The son of Zamindar is also entered for a similar race over the same distance at Morphettville in Adelaide.
Dabernig said the gelding was likely to have just one start before going out for a break ahead of a spring campaign.
It is a scenario that has played out successfully in the past with imports to the Lindsay Park team.
It was first adopted by Dabernig’s grandfather Colin Hayes and more recently by his uncle and training partner, David Hayes.
“We thought we could give him one run now and then back off him for the spring,” Dabernig said.
“He might not be quite ready for this spring and it might be more next autumn and then the following spring, but we’ll give him the chance.”
Group One horses the calibre of Jeune, Water Boatman and Tawqeet were given similar preparations of one run in the autumn before embarking on successful spring campaigns later in the year.
Velox had two wins and four minor placings to his name from 12 starts before coming to Australia.
The gelding showed promise running second in a Tatura trial on April 10 and has since had a couple of jump-outs to prime him for a first-up run.
“His rating is still quite low but he’s a horse that has come to us relatively lightly raced,” Dabernig said.
“He’s trialled well. We’ve given him a jump-out at Flemington and another at Werribee last Friday and he seems to be coming to hand nicely.”
There are 31 nominations for the race on the nine race Caulfield card.
The Listed Redoute’s Choice Stakes (1200m) has attracted 23 entries including impressive Flemington winner Black Vanquish, debut Moe winner Cool Snitzel and recent Adelaide winner Pearl Star.
