A meeting during the week will determine the spring starting point for Alpine Eagle.
The five-year-old has been gearing up for a spring return in Melbourne and trainer Tony McEvoy plans to meet owner Wolf Blass to discuss options.
McEvoy said Alpine Eagle galloped beautifully at Flemington on Saturday morning and was right on track for his return.
“I’ll have a meeting with Wolf this week and see where we step him off,” McEvoy said.
“I’d like to kick him off in the Memsie Stakes if we could and then get him to the Makybe Diva Stakes.”
The early part of Alpine Eagle’s spring campaign will determine his path. He is entered for the Caulfield Cup and Cox Plate.
Alpine Eagle was expected to be a major player last spring but was a race morning scratching from the Turnbull Stakes with a cracked pedal bone.
He returned for a cameo appearance at Adelaide’s May carnival, finishing fifth to Tonopah in the Robert A Lee Stakes at Morphettville.
One McEvoy runner ready to make her spring return is Concealer who will run in the Quezette Stakes (1100m) at Caulfield on Saturday.
A debut Flemington winner on Melbourne Cup day last year, Concealer hasn’t raced since finishing sixth in the Thoroughbred Breeders Plate at Flemington in March.
She trialled at Morphettville last month in an effort that pleased McEvoy.
“She trialled nicely in Adelaide the other day and has come over to Melbourne and has been galloping nicely,” McEvoy said.
“I’m looking forward to her return and getting her out to a mile.”
The Thousand Guineas at Caulfield is her spring goal.
McEvoy also has Caulfield Guineas hopes for Hey Doc who scored a narrow first-up win in The Cove Hotel Handicap at Sandown on Sunday.
