Trainer Greg Eurell has flagged the Caulfield Cup as a spring target for Cox Plate winner Pinker Pinker who will make her autumn return in the Futurity Stakes at Caulfield.
Eurell said a Cranbourne trial two weeks ago had conditioned the four-year-old mare perfectly for Saturday’s Group One assignment over 1400 metres and a possible clash with Black Caviar.
“She is not far off now,” Eurell said.
“It is all good with her at the moment and I’m looking forward to Saturday.
“I like what she did in that trial and she did enough work in it to get her fit.”
Pinker Pinker settled upwards of 12 lengths off the lead in the trial but made up ground to finish third and within a length of the winner Octavaus.
Eurell has mapped out a Sydney campaign for Pinker Pinker after the Futurity with the Chipping Norton Stakes already confirmed.
The Ranvet Stakes and The BMW are also on her program although other options are the Queen Of The Turf and the Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
She has also been entered for the Doncaster Mile but is unlikely to run at this stage.
“The Chipping Norton is a fortnight after the Futurity so we will keep moving along to get the miles in her legs,” Eurell said.
After Pinker Pinker’s Cox Plate win, Eurell liked the Australian Cup on March 10 as a target but decided against it in the best interest of the mare.
“I didn’t want to bore her up through the autumn,” Eurell said.
“I just want to give her four or five runs and once she gets that under her belt she will be back out in the paddock and then back early June.
“We could even have a look at the Caulfield Cup with her this year.
“She will be a year older and don’t think she would have any trouble running the trip under handicap conditions.”
At her only start over 2400 metres, she finished third to Absolutely and Shamrocker in the AJC Australian Oaks last autumn and The BMW will be her second run over the distance.
AAP TURF
