Tim Martin says he was happy to bypass the Hawkesbury Guineas to give emerging three-year-old Pampelonne every chance of winning Saturday’s Scone Guineas.
Martin believes Pampelonne is well placed in the $500,000 Scone Guineas (1400m) after a dominant victory in the Listed Gosford Guineas (1200m) on April 22.
“He came through Gosford well,” Martin said.
“The Hawkesbury race (on May 5) was worth one hundred and fifty thousand (dollars) and the Scone race is five hundred thousand (dollars).
“If we went to Hawkesbury you could get to Scone and run out of horse so we decided to skip Hawkesbury.”
The Rosehill trainer said he would be guided by Saturday’s performance but the Group One Stradbroke Handicap next month loomed as an attractive race.
Pampelonne is at $11 with TAB Sportsbet for the Stradbroke (1400m) and Martin admits he would most likely have to start the gelding again after Saturday if he wanted to press towards the $1 million sprint at Eagle Farm.
Pampelonne was 43rd in the Stradbroke ballot when weights were released on Monday.
“I’d say he would have to run again before the Stradbroke, although I don’t really want to run him again,” Martin said.
“Whether that’s in the 10,000 (Group One Doomben 10,000) or QTC Cup, but I don’t want to exercise those thoughts until after Saturday.”
Pampelonne has had five different jockeys in his five starts but will be re-united with Hugh Bowman who rode him to a debut Warwick Farm win last September.
James McDonald was aboard in the 1-1/4-length Gosford Guineas victory but he’ll be on rival Colorado Claire on Saturday for trainer John O’Shea.
Pampelonne and Colorado Claire are two of three stakeswinners among the 22 nominations for the Scone Guineas with the other being the Anthony Cummings-trained Upbeat who took out the Group Two Autumn Classic (1800m) at Caulfield in February.
While Martin is chasing some of the riches on offer at Scone in the NSW Hunter Valley, he also hopes to feature in Saturday’s Group One Doomben Cup (2020m) with stakeswinning mare Fibrillation.
Winner of the Listed Aspiration Quality and Epona Stakes during the autumn, Fibrillation was a last-start second in the Group Two Emancipation Stakes.
“She’s doing really well and we just need some rain up there,” Martin said.
