George Main Stakes entry Sincero could have his spring reshaped to include a start in the Epsom Handicap.
Trainer Stephen Farley said he was now open-minded about giving Sincero another chance to complete Sydney’s spring Group One mile double following the release of Epsom weights on Monday.
Sincero - Photo by Steve Hart
Winner of the Stradbroke Handicap and George Main Stakes in 2011, Sincero has been given 57kg in the $600,000 race on October 5.
It’s a handicap that is attractive enough for Farley not to completely rule out the Epsom before a Melbourne campaign.
“I’m happy with his Epsom weight and it gives us another option without getting ahead of ourselves,” Farley said.
Sincero is among 15 nominations for the George Main on Saturday, a Group One weight-for-age race he won as a four-year-old at Rosehill before finishing midfield as favourite in the Epsom.
Farley said Sincero’s trackwork going into this year’s edition at Randwick on Saturday was the equivalent of his best from earlier preparations.
As such, the Wyong trainer is unconcerned Sincero could only finish in front of one runner when he returned to racing in the Tramway Stakes at Randwick.
“He needed the run and it showed because he knocked up from the 100 (metres),” Farley said.
“If he had got beaten eight lengths you would be scratching your head a bit but he only got beaten three and a half lengths.”
Typically, horses from the all-conquering stable of Rosehill trainer Chris Waller dominate George Main entries but some uncertainty remains over the exact composition of his team.
Most focus is on Hawkspur, the last-start Chelmsford Stakes winner who is also entered for the Hill Stakes.
Trainer Peter Moody has indicated the talented three-year-old Dissident is a likely George Main starter.
No horse had a harder run than Dissident in the Golden Rose on Saturday and the colt earned a lot of new fans with his courageous second to Zoustar.
