With a Group 1 win safely tucked away, the Ciaron Maher stable is looking for Another Wil to land his second at the highest level at Flemington.
Another Wil faces six opponents in the All-Star Mile (1600m) on Saturday having disposed of nine rivals in beating Mr Brightside in the Group 1 CF Orr Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on February 8.
The Maher stable bypassed a return clash with Mr Brightside in the Futurity Stakes on February 22, instead waiting for the 1600m of the All-Star Mile.
Maher’s assistant trainer Jack Turnbull said Another Wil instead had a jump-out at Cranbourne to have him fine-tuned for Saturday’s race.
The small field on Saturday does not concern Turnbull, although he would have preferred to have been drawn off the fence, preferably between barriers two and five.
“We’ve got similar tactics to Mr Brightside,” Turnbull said.
“The beauty of our bloke is he has a big stride, is fairly free flowing and he can hold a spot, whether that’s first, second or third.
“We believe he’s still untapped and knowing him and looking at him, there’s a lot of horse and he’s still not furnished.
“Every prep, he gets better. Even when he spells, he doesn’t do that well, as when he come back in, he’s a similar weight as to when he left.
“Hopefully, with age and maturity, he will be able to go out, bulk up and strengthen and that turns into a little more ability, not that he has to do much more.
“We believe he can improve, and in terms of a trip, he may stretch to 10 furlongs (2000m) and be as good at that as he is at a mile.”
Now a five-year-old, Another Wil has been taken along quietly by the Maher team, winning nine of his 14 starts with three placings.
Turnbull said the stable always had the belief Another Wil had Group 1 potential and was relieved to see him produce in his victory first-up.
“We’ve always had the belief that he was a Group 1 horse, but a lot of horses show that and don’t always get around to doing it,” Turnbull said.
“How he performed that day was very touching, and we believe he can go on with it.”
The Maher stable has Light Infantry Man as their back-up runner after the gelding finished a pleasing sixth first-up in the Group 1 Futurity Stakes.
The 1400m that day was always going to be too short for Light Infantry Man who worked home exceptionally well in the final 150m of that race.
“It was not the plan to go here,” Turnbull said.
“We were potentially going to go a month into the (Group 1) Australian Cup (2000m at Flemington on March 29), but the way he ran first-up, Ciaron saw something, and he was pretty keen on persevering to this race.
“The race has come up with only seven horses in it and it gives him a chance to get past Another Wil and Mr Brightside if it becomes a tough test.”
