Cox Plate winter Pinker Pinker is back in work and being geared for a first-up tilt at the Group One Futurity Stakes at the end of February.
Trainer Greg Eurell said the four-year-old blossomed during a five-week spell and by chance was in a paddock alongside Caulfield Cup winner Southern Speed.
“She has had had a terrific let up and done super,” Eurell said.
“She looks great.
“The first week after the Cox Plate she was lying down enjoying the sun and recharging the batteries but then she was jumping around because she was feeling that good.”
Eurell said Pinker Pinker, who hasn’t raced since her upset win in the Cox Plate at Moonee Valley on October 22, made remarkable improvement last campaign and he believed she could capitalise on it in the autumn.
“She is lightly raced and just maturity and time really helped her take that next step in the spring,” Eurell said.
He said he was now committed to giving her a weight-for-age campaign and the Futurity Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on February 25 was her first autumn target.
He said the Australian Cup on March 10 would come up too quickly for her and most her autumn would be spent in Sydney where she could run second-up in the Group One Chipping Norton Stakes.
“We are not going to punish her but we certainly hope to get four runs out of her, if not five in the autumn,” Eurell said.
“We will probably throw in a nomination for the Doncaster to see what weight she gets but really we have got to target the weight-for-age races.
“I am looking forward to it and we will pick them out as we go.
“She is a very, very honest mare and can handle wet or dry and is one of those horses capable of picking up one of those good races no matter the distance.”
He said although she ran third in last year’s AJC Australian Oaks (2400m) in Sydney it was unlikely that she would contest The BMW over that distance in April.
He said he wanted her to exit her autumn campaign around mid-April to give her time for a good break before next spring.
“We will just try and find the right races for her and the beauty with her is that she can have gaps between runs and it doesn’t really matter.”
AAP TURF