Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr will produce the first of their big names for 2023 at Cranbourne on Monday morning when Jacquinot has his first jump out for the campaign.
The Rubick colt will take part in an 800-metre hitout for three-year-olds as he gears up for what could be a career-defining campaign.
The Widden Stud-bound galloper’s stallion career is already assured, thanks to his win in the Golden Rose (1400m) in September, but Price and Kent’s job this campaign is to add a Group 1 weight-for-success to his resume.
Jacquinot is being set for the two $750,000 1400m Group 1s at Sandown during February – the C F Orr Stakes (February 11) and Futurity Stakes (February 25) – and is likely to have a lead-up run beforehand.
“This will be his first trial, so he’ll just have a quiet one,” Kent said.
“But we want to have him pretty ready to go for the two Group 1 features at Sandown, so he’ll probably have a run first in the Manfred Stakes on the 26th.”
The $200,000 Group 3 Manfred Stakes, a 1300m set-weights-and-penalties event for three-year-olds, is at Sandown on Australia Day.
Kent reported that Jacquinot had done as the stable had hoped since the final run of his spring campaign, a ninth placing in the Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m), and was in for a big campaign.
“He’s humming,” Kent said. “He’s very good and he galloped very well during the week.”
Jacquinot is equal favourite with Anamoe for the Orr Stakes and is also prominent in Futurity Stakes betting, as he is in the market on the Group 1 Australian Guineas (1600m) at Flemington in March.
