Streets Of Avalon is set to resume at Caulfield after a bout of travel sickness forced him to miss a start in the inaugural running of The Archer at Rockhampton.
The Group 3 Bletchingly Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield on Saturday will kick start Streets Of Avalon’s latest campaign which may see head to the other side of the country to close the preparation.
Trainer Shane Nichols says the $1.5 million Gold Rush (1400m) at Ascot on December 10 may be a suitable race for Streets Of Avalon to be aimed at.
But first he wants to see how the soon to be eight-year-old returns after the disappointment of having travelled to Rockhampton for The Archer on May 7, only to scratch.
“Initially we weren’t going to go unless we could fly,” Nichols said.
“We decided to go by truck and went overnight to Sydney, spent the day there, then overnight to Brisbane and I met him there and we stayed with Chris Meagher for about five days.
“He was on the cusp of having something going on then and wasn’t quite himself, but we made the call and took him up to Rocky, which was another eight hours.
“I travelled up with him and by the time we got up there he had deteriorated a bit. His blood picture showed a better indication of what he looked like physically.
“We couldn’t run and treat, we had to make a call, so for the betterment of the horse we treated and scratched and then treated him intensively for three or four days.
“We got him back to Brisbane where he stayed at Chris Meagher’s for another few days and then went out for a spell up there for almost three weeks.”
Nichols said Streets Of Avalon has not missed a beat since returning from Queensland, but concedes he is possibly a gallop short for his first-up run.
“There’s a bit of speed outside him and Felicia is drawn inside him and if we begin well, we’ll keep the race honest,” Nichols said.
Nichols said Streets Of Avalon would head to the Group 2 P B Lawrence Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on August 13 and then potentially the Group 1 Memsie Stakes (1400m) two weeks later, after which a decision would be made on whether to give the gelding a break to prepare for Perth.
