Trainer Matt Cumani is still unsure what Greycliffe’s best distance is but is hoping to get another guide when he runs the three-year-old at Flemington.
Greycliffe is entered for Saturday’s 2000m-handicap against his own age after finishing third over 2100m at Sandown at his most recent start.
The colt was thrown in the deep end last spring in the Victoria Derby (2500m) off a win in a benchmark race at Seymour and finished unplaced.
His four starts this preparation have included a placing in the Port Adelaide Guineas (1800m) and an unplaced run in the Chairman’s Stakes (2035m) in Adelaide two starts ago.
“I’ve still got a bit of a question mark over what his perfect trip is,” Cumani said.
“I just wanted to have it confirmed the way we rode him last time, a bit quieter than up in the lead, works and hopefully if we can run a few times over that distance we’ll start to really see a pattern with him and see whether he wants a little bit further, like I suspect.
“But I’m still open to having my mind changed and maybe his perfect distance is 2000 metres.”
Cumani said Greycliffe’s last start was encouraging.
“He was caught a bit wide and had to make an early move and I think he just paid for it at the end. But he’s going the right way,” he said.
“Hopefully we’re on the right path now in terms of style of running and I just want to nail down now what his preferred distance is.
“What I’d like him to do is run a similar race to last time, hopefully with a bit more luck.”
Cumani also has Anthemoessa nominated for Saturday’s Two-Year-Old Handicap (1100m) but indicated he was likely to wait for a maiden to kick off the filly’s campaign, with next Monday’s Mornington metropolitan meeting an option.
Saturday’s nine-race program features heats of a number of winter series races including the All Victorian Sprint Series Heat 6 (1000m) which has 19 nominations headlined by stakes winners Jungle Edge and Ability.
