A desire to set up Les Vampires for a potential Big Dance campaign in the spring has convinced connections to focus on a Gold Cup bid at Gosford.
The gelding was an acceptor for both the $500,000 The Coast (1600m) and the $300,000 Gosford Gold Cup (2100m) on Saturday’s stand-alone program but has been scratched from the former with co-trainer Adrian Bott saying they felt the Cup was the better option for several reasons.
“We started to put him out in trip last start and he did a good job in that regard. He is probably better suited going further out in trip at this stage of his preparation, rather than trying to come back to a sharper mile,” Bott said.
“It will be a new test for him in grade and distance. We probably won’t run him too much past Saturday, he has done a good job, but it would open up a few nice options for him as well.
“Obviously it’s a Big Dance qualifier and that would be a great race for him down the road if he was able to feature on Saturday.”
Following an accomplished three-year-old season highlighted by a placing in the 2024 Hobartville Stakes (1400m), Les Vampires underwent throat surgery and was sidelined for almost a year.
His four subsequent runs have all been excellent, including a last start victory over 1800m at Randwick when he led throughout.
Stablemate New Endeavour will also contest the Gosford Gold Cup and has been racing consistently in stronger grade, his latest effort a handy third behind Bois D’Argent in the JRA Plate (2000m) over the Sydney autumn carnival.
“He’s had a short freshen up between runs and hopefully that’s the key, keeping him a little bit fresh,” Bott said.
“This distance should also help as well so it might be a nice race for him and we can see what’s in store for him after Saturday.”
While Les Vampires has been scratched from The Coast, Tulloch Lodge will be represented by Townsend, who sat on a strong speed when tiring late to finish unplaced first-up at Randwick.
He is being readied for longer races but Bott expects a much more competitive run from him on Saturday.
“Even the mile is short of his best but I think you’ll see a big improvement on his first-up run anyway,” Bott said.
“He will be trying to get out in trip later in the campaign. Potentially there are a couple of nice races in Queensland, unless he sticks around in Sydney for any of those winter Cups races, but he was getting out to those sort of trips last preparation and he was effective.”
Townsend is a winner second-up and is yet to miss a place in three starts over a mile.
