Rex Lipp has changed tack with Tinto, yet his focus is no different to last year as the Queensland Oaks winner returns to Sydney racing.
Lipp wants to win another Magic Millions Stayers Cup with the best horse in his stable and the Festival Stakes at Rosehill will be one of two important Sydney races for the mare.
“If she races well in the Festival she’ll go on to the Villiers (Stakes) at Randwick and then on to the Stayers Cup,” Lipp said.
Tinto did her lead-up racing to her Stayers Cup victory in Queensland, figuring in two Doomben placings before winning the Bernborough Handicap when the race was transferred to Toowoomba.
Doomben has been the centre of Brisbane racing since Eagle Farm’s closure for renovations but Lipp says Tinto isn’t comfortable racing on the tighter of Queensland’s two city tracks.
For that reason, the trainer said it made sense to send Tinto to Sydney for the second time in 2015 after she had two autumn carnival starts.
“I’ve just angled (her preparation) a little bit differently to what I normally do with her,” Lipp said.
“Doomben isn’t a track that suits her.
“She just doesn’t get a good enough run at them.”
Tim Clark will ride Tinto after Lipp’s plans to book Sam Clipperton came unstuck when the young jockey was suspended last week.
Tinto has the widest barrier in a field of 15 but she holds a prominent place in early betting as $9.50 third favourite behind the in-form Frespanol.
Trainer Gerald Ryan expects Red Excitement and Peace Force to find their best form in the Festival as they return from one-start Melbourne campaigns.
Red Excitement finished down the course at Flemington on the first day of the Melbourne Cup carnival and Peace Force didn’t fare much better on the second day.
“Because of the track (bias), Red Excitement had no hope and Peace Force took half her foot away when she pulled a shoe so there was an excuse for her,” Ryan said.
“They have both trialled well since so I’m expecting them to improve.”
Frespanol heads betting at $4.60 and hasn’t missed a beat for Gai Waterhouse in four runs back, including a Randwick win over Rock Sturdy, a subsequent placegetter in the Group One Emirates Stakes.
