Ballarat trainer Dan O’Sullivan is hoping lightning strikes twice in the Rain Lover Handicap at Flemington on Saturday.
Tuscan Fire saluted for him last year and he has the in-form Gottino shooting for a repeat performance this year.
O’Sullivan has plotted an identical path for Gottino, a former country cups specialist.
Both were second at Flemington before Christmas and then won the Byron Moore Handicap on New Year’s Day.
Tuscan Fire went on to win the Rain Lover (2500m) and the Listed $350,000 Mornington Cup (2400m).
O’Sullivan believes that if all goes well, Gottino could follow suit.
“But we’ll see how he goes at 2500 metres before we get too far ahead of ourselves,” he said.
“Logically we would like to tackle the Mornington Cup but it will depend on what the handicapper does.
“If Gottino wins on Saturday he is on the same path so it would be remiss of me to say it’s not on the radar.”
There is the added incentive of an automatic Caulfield Cup start for the winner of the Mornington Cup, although Tuscan Fire made no impact in Fawkner’s Caulfield Cup last year.
The handicapper has slugged Gottino the maximum weight of 60kg on Saturday, but with claiming apprentice Pat Moloney he comes in to 57kg.
When Glen Boss rode Gottino to second behind a very sharp Electric Fusion at Flemington in the Zouki Western Health Cup Open (2000m), he told O’Sullivan the six-year-old gelding felt like a horse looking for more distance.
“The only problem is that he is carrying more weight,” O’Sullivan said.
