Talented stayer Revelare back to chase Melbourne Cup spot

Talented stayer Revelare is back in work and building towards a spring campaign after illness ruled him out of a Melbourne Cup path earlier this year. Trainer Robert Hickmott has his sights set on Group targets for the emerging stayer, who impressed over the summer with a string of wins.

Revelare had notched up five consecutive victories — four of them in metropolitan company — between December and early March, but plans to contest the Listed Roy Higgins were shelved after the gelding picked up a minor bug ahead of his final lead-up run.

Hickmott opted not to take any risks and sent the four-year-old son of So You Think for a short break, with an eye firmly on the spring.

“He spelled very well,” Hickmott said.

“He only got just over four weeks but really thickened up nicely and he’s back in work and enjoying his time.

“I couldn’t be happier. He looks fantastic.

“He’s probably mentally matured a bit too. So, we’ll just cross our fingers and hope the real horse will show up and we’ll be ready for a good spring.”

Revelare is being aimed at a Melbourne Cup ballot exemption, with the Archer Stakes (2500m) and The Bart Cummings (2500m) both on the radar as key lead-up races at Flemington.

“The Archer Stakes may come a bit soon, but it would be lovely to have two bites at the cherry,” Hickmott said.

“But we’ll see how quickly he does come up. He’s held pretty good residual fitness off his little break, and you’d love to get him to the Archer and if he were able to win that and we got the ticket in, we’d probably still go to The Bart Cummings anyway because it’s a great lead-up race.

“Time will tell once we get into his preparation.

“The free ticket in would be the goal, but if it doesn’t transpire, we’ll have to look at other options.”

Hickmott confirmed that Revelare has been back in work for a couple of weeks and is being aimed to resume in early August, depending on how he progresses through the prep.

“If he’s to get ready for the Archer he’s got to be racing in that first couple of weeks of August,” he said.

Revelare has won six of his eight starts, with a winning streak beginning in a Seymour benchmark-64 in late December and extending through victories at Sandown and Flemington up to 2000m in benchmark-78 and 84 grade.

Punters eager to follow Revelare’s spring path can track his progress and find early markets for races like The Bart Cummings and the Melbourne Cup at Australia’s top betting sites.