Trainer Stephen Farley hasn’t lost faith in Sincero’s ability to run a strong 2000 metres despite his indifferent carnival form in Melbourne.
The dual Group One winner was stretched beyond a mile for the first time this spring with his best result a fifth to Descarado in the Caulfield Stakes.
But Farley revealed the four-year-old struggled to adapt to both the colder Melbourne weather and the reverse way of going and said the trip was a learning curve for them both and he hoped to be back there next year.
“I’m not sure he was quite 100 per cent down there. He had trouble adapting to the weather and I’m not sure he quite acclimatised,” Farley said.
“I still think he could run 2000 metres.
“In his Caulfield Stakes and Cox Plate runs he was still very strong on the line, his last two furlongs were the best of the race and he never got a lot of luck either.
“He was probably learning to go the left-handed way as well.”
A brilliant winner of the Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) in June, Sincero returned with back-to-back victories in the Tramway Handicap (1400m) and George Main Stakes (1600m) in September.
Following a midfield effort in the Epsom Handicap he headed to Melbourne for his main target, the Cox Plate, in which he was ninth to Pinker Pinker.
“His runs were creditable,” Farley said.
“He was beaten six lengths in the best weight-for-age race in Australia and didn’t have a lot of luck, and four and six lengths at his other couple of (Melbourne) runs, so he wasn’t getting towelled.
“We might get a better idea about him over 2000 metres in Sydney, or at least this way of going, next campaign.”
Farley wants to let the dust settle before mapping out an autumn schedule for Sincero.
He said the gelding may only have a light Sydney campaign and be freshened for the winter carnival in Brisbane but a return to Melbourne next spring would be his priority.
“He deserves a good couple of months off now, he only had a three week (break) after Brisbane,” Farley said.
“My main aim will probably be to get back to Melbourne next year.”
It has been a busy year for Farley and his headline horse.
But the trainer wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I’ve enjoyed it. It’s good to be waking up and having those sorts of horses going to the races,” he said.
AAP TURF
