Leading trainer Peter Moody is considering a start in the Perth Cup for Elusive King, winner of Saturday’s Comic Court Handicap at Flemington on protest.
The Elusive Quality four-year-old suffered significant interference in the straight during the 2000m event before going down to The Big Steel by a head.
However jockey Brad Rawiller quickly fired in an objection which was upheld after a brief hearing.
The Big Steel’s rider Ben Melham was suspended until the new year after pleading guilty to a careless riding charge.
Moody has a good opinion of Elusive King who made it two straight wins having beaten The Big Steel by three lengths over 2000m at Caulfield at their previous meeting on December 3.
“We’re still looking at the Perth Cup for him,” Moody said.
“We just want to evaluate the form from the Cox Stakes and then decide whether to go or not.”
The Neville Parnham-trained God Has Spoken took out the Group Two $225,000 weight-for-age C B Cox Stakes (2100m) at Ascot on Saturday beating former Victorian galloper Kincaple and $1.80 favourite Ranger.
Elusive King is currently at $7 with Tab Sportsbet for the Group Two $400,000 Perth Cup (2400m) at Ascot on New Year’s Eve.
The Mark Reed-trained Kincaple is now the $3.80 Perth Cup favourite ahead of the Grant Williams-trained stablemates Tranquility ($6) and Ranger ($6.50).
While Elusive King could be headed west, The Big Steel is more likely to go south with Mornington trainer Matt Laurie eyeing the Hobart and Launceston Cups.
“He’s been pretty honest and consistent so far and we are thinking we’d like to take him over to Tassie for the Cups over there,” he said.
“But we didn’t want to make any concrete plans until we saw how he came up.
“You’d like to have a stable full of horses like him, he’s been in the placings in 11 of his 21 starts.”
The Group Three $300,000 Hobart Cup (2200m) is run on Sunday, February 13, while the Group Three $300,000 Launceston Cup (2400m) is run on February 29.
AAP TURF
