Cox Plate favourite Pierro will have his first look at Moonee Valley on Friday night when he makes his highly anticipated Victorian debut.
The star colt will be one of eight runners in the Group Two Bill Stutt Stakes (1600m), ahead of his planned spring targets – the Caulfield Guineas (1600m) at Caulfield and $3 million Cox Plate (2040m) back at Moonee Valley.
Cox Plate favourite Pierro will have his first look at Moonee Valley on Friday night when he makes his highly anticipated Victorian debut. - Photo by Steve Hart
His appearance at the tight-turning circuit will also be a first for owner Greg Kolivos.
Kolivos and his wife Donna have never had a Moonee Valley runner and will be trackside on Friday to cheer Pierro on.
“I’ve been there before but I’ve never had a runner at Moonee Valley so I’m looking forward to the race, as you would imagine,” Kolivos said.
He believes the Stutt Stakes will be the perfect launching pad for Pierro ahead of his major carnival targets.
“It gives him a look around the Valley but it’s also a perfect hitout for the Caulfield Guineas,” Kolivos said.
“The last thing we want to do is forget that that (Guineas) is one of his absolute key goals for the spring down there.
“It’s a great hitout for that, having a mile run leading into the Guineas given he’s had a few weeks since his first-up run.
“But to have the experience of having a bit of a look around Moonee Valley – because it is a bit different – in readiness for the Cox Plate will do him no world of good.”
Pierro took all before him last season winning the juvenile triple crown of the Golden Slipper, Sires’ Produce and Champagne Stakes.
It capped a remarkable two-year-old campaign in which he was unbeaten in six starts.
Kolivos was delighted to then see Pierro return with a convincing first-up win in the Group Three Run To The Rose (1200m) on September 1.
“The autumn was something else as you can imagine, but you’ve always got your questions and you want to see them come back as a three-year-old,” he said.
“And to see him come back in the fashion that he did, to dominate that Run To The Rose, was terrific.”
Pierro worked in the Melbourne direction at Randwick ahead of his trip south.
He also had a couple of gallops in the left-handed direction during the autumn alongside stablemate No Looking Back who went to Melbourne for the Blue Diamond.
“Each and every time the guys have got off him they’ve just said he’s a bit of a consummate professional,” Kolivos said.
“He just seems to know what to do.”
