Japanese trainer Yasutoshi Matsunaga has made a reconnaissance visit to Melbourne ahead of the spring carnival.
Matsunaga is targeting Hokko Brave at the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups and has inspected the quarantine facilities at Werribee and visited Flemington.
He also attended Saturday’s Caulfield race meeting and said he was impressed with what he had seen.
Speaking through an interpreter, Matsunaga said the addition of a synthetic track at Werribee would be a bonus for Hokko Brave.
“The turf was already a hard track,” Matsunaga said.
“We are looking for soft ground and they are building a soft track which we are happy to see.”
Matsunaga said Hokko Brave would have no difficulty adapting to the two different Melbourne tracks but the Melbourne Cup was the main target.
He said the stayer was in pre-training in Japan and he was hopeful the seven-year-old would be in Melbourne in late September.
After studying of the weights of last year’s Caulfield and Melbourne Cups, Matsunaga is hoping for around 55kg, although Hiroshi Ando, who travelled with Bande last year and is acting as interpreter for Matsunaga, says 56kg may be more realistic.
Japanese horse Admire Rakti carried 58kg to win the 2014 Caulfield Cup.
No jockey has been been booked for Hokko Brave with connections weighing up whether to engage an Australian, European or Japanese rider.
“We want the same jockey to ride in both races,” Matsunaga said.
“A Japanese jockey would be nice for team Japan.”
Ando said the trip to Australia came about through a chance meeting at the Dubai World Cup earlier this year between Racing Victoria’s international scout Leigh Jordon and Hokko Brave’s owner Michiaki Yabe.
“It has been the owner’s dream to come to Melbourne,” Ando said.
“He was here to see Americain in 2010 and his memory was great from that.”
Third in the 2014 Group One Tenno Sho (3200m) and a last-start sixth in this year’s race in May, Hokko Brave will be joined by Tenno Sho runner-up Fame Game on the trip to Melbourne.
