Trainer Con Karakatsanis has confirmed his intention to back-up stakes winner Howmuchdoyouloveme in the Group Three Show County Quality at Randwick.
Karakatsanis said the horse had pulled up well from his narrow second to Peeping at Rosehill on Saturday when he led until the final bounds.
Soundness issues have restricted the seven-year-old’s career to 27 starts and his last win was more than two years ago in the Healy Stakes in Brisbane.
Unsurprisingly, while the horse is fit, healthy and in form, Karakatsanis is keen to press on.
“He’s always a day-to-day proposition but I’m very happy with him, I wouldn’t have accepted with him if I wasn’t,” Karakatsanis said.
“His run last Saturday was very good.
“He’s an old boy and he’s got a lot of problems but I’ll wrap him in cotton wool and he’ll be right.”
John O’Shea has scratched Complacent from the Show County to run in the Warwick Stakes, leaving favourite Vashka to represent the Godolphin stable in the Group Three sprint.
Vashka won five races on end during the late spring and summer then struggled on a soft track at his only autumn run.
He will appreciate a firm surface at Randwick but O’Shea warned the horse would be at his best over further than Saturday’s 1200m trip.
“I don’t think he is a genuine six furlong horse,” O’Shea said.
“He loves to get into the tempo of a seven (furlong) and a bit beyond where he can dictate and control the tempo of a race.
“He won’t have that luxury on Saturday so we’re going to have to be reliant on a different strategy for him to be effective.”
