Lionel Cohen’s hopes of taking Aeronautical to the Hong Kong International meeting are fading with the deadline for invitations looming.
The trainer has planned Aeronautical’s spring around the International Sprint on December 8 but it appears the nose of Darley horse Sessions may keep him out.
After a lengthy wait for the result of the photo-finish to the Group Two Shorts at Randwick in September, Sessions was declared the winner by the barest of margins.
“I’m still waiting to hear from Hong Kong and I’m still hopeful but not as hopeful as I was,” Cohen said on Monday.
“The deadline is Thursday but I think they may put one of the local horses in.
“His rating is a touch low and he had to win the Shorts to guarantee an invitation.
“I thought he had won and when I saw the photo I thought it should have been a dead heat.”
A Listed winner at three, Aeronautical put himself in the frame for bigger and better things when he ran third behind Shamexpress and Moment Of Change, beaten a short head and a nose, in the Newmarket Handicap at Flemington in March.
His second run down the Flemington straight in last month’s Group Two Gilgai Stakes ended badly when he was found to have mucus in his trachea after his unplaced effort.
He is completely over the problem and Cohen will send him round in a barrier trial on Thursday morning.
If he doesn’t go to Hong Kong, the trainer will instigate Plan B.
“If not Hong Kong we will look at the Starlight Stakes as an option,” Cohen said.
“He could have one or two runs in the summer then have a short break and get ready for the autumn.
“But I wanted to go to Hong Kong because it’s the right year to do it. There doesn’t seem to be the depth of sprinters there that there has been in the past.”
The Listed Starlight Stakes (1100m) is on November 30 at Rosehill.
