Sydney Cup placegetter Sir Charles Road is in Sydney to be prepared for a spring campaign aimed at the Melbourne Cup.
Trained by Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott, the New Zealand stayer will bypass the Hastings spring carnival to concentrate on Australia starting with a 1400m-race at Randwick on August 17.
Owner David Archer said he was delighted with how Sir Charles Road had come up ahead of his first-up run.
“Lance and Andrew have him looking magnificent and I’m thrilled with his condition as he gets ready for his new campaign,” Archer told NZ Racing Desk.
“All his bloods and the like are spot-on and he travelled over to Sydney really well.
“He is a great traveller and he has gone with his own permanent groom, Leanne Jackson, who will be looking after him while he is over there and she reported he has settled in nicely.”
A combination of unsuitable lead-up races and the fickle nature of the New Zealand spring tracks has prompted connections to head straight to Sydney.
“We had a good look at the programs here and where we wanted to take him in Australia and we just couldn’t make it work,” Archer said.
“You also just don’t know what kind of track you are going to strike here so it just made sense to head straight to Australia.
“All going well he will have four runs in Sydney, culminating in the Metropolitan Handicap in October.
“If he is still going well, we would have a look at the Caulfield Cup and then the 2019 Melbourne Cup from there.
“He had no luck last year so to go as well as he did in finishing seventh off a very limited preparation in the Melbourne Cup gives me plenty of hope he can make it to the race again this year.”
Sir Charles Road won the 2018 Chairman’s Handicap at Randwick before finishing third behind Who Shot Thebarman and Zacada in the Sydney Cup.
