A Doncaster Mile start only just scrapes onto the autumn radar of two-time Group One winner Sincero.
Sincero is proven at weight-for-age over the Randwick mile as the winner of the George Main Stakes but trainer Steve Farley believes there are better autumn targets than the Doncaster for the four-year-old.
“He’s in the Doncaster (nominations) and I’ll leave him there but it’s not my preferred option,” Farley said.
“For the race to become a reality he would have to be absolutely flying, it would have to fall away and he would have to have the right weight.
“The Doncaster hasn’t been working out as an ideal race for four-year-olds.
“They don’t have a good record in the race.”
Latest TAB Sportsbet markets have Sincero a $26 chance to win the $2 million race.
Sincero made his first public appearance since a Melbourne spring campaign when he galloped between races at Wyong on Sunday.
Leading jockey Hugh Bowman, who has been booked for Sincero’s autumn return in the Canterbury Stakes, partnered the gelding in a 1000m solo gallop.
“He went along in evens and then got serious from the half mile (800m) and he went home nice,” Farley said.
The $400,000 George Ryder Stakes will be Sincero’s prime Group One target in Sydney with Farley keen on a Brisbane return during the winter carnival.
“I would like to take him back to Queensland for the Doomben 10,000 and the Stradbroke,” he said.
Sincero confirmed his promise winning last year’s Stradbroke Handicap with 50.5kg.
It’s been a mixed bag since with a ninth to Pinker Pinker in the Cox Plate among his three unplaced runs in a disappointing Melbourne spring carnival.
Farley says he hasn’t given up on the Cox Plate dream despite last year’s disappointment.
“Overseas races have been bandied about but there is one race I would really like to win and that’s the Cox Plate,” he said.
Sincero will contest a Rosehill barrier trial on Tuesday week ahead of his return to racing on March 24.
AAP TURF
