Three years after winning the Melbourne Cup, Vow And Declare is tracking towards a third start in Australia’s most famous race.
Vow And Declare galloped over 1400m between races at Geelong on Wednesday in preparation for his return to racing at Caulfield on Saturday week.
A tendon injury halted the 2021 campaign of Vow And Declare who returned to trainer Danny O’Brien’s care in May.
“He’s tracking along really well,” O’Brien said.
“He had a tendon injury last spring. He spent six months at Lee Evison’s doing his rehab and we’ve had him back in work since May.
“He’s fit and he’s sound and he seems fresh and well.
“He trialled well here recently, he galloped well here again this afternoon and he’ll head to Caulfield on Saturday week and kick off in a mile handicap.”
O’Brien said he had been preparing Vow And Declare as he had done in previous years.
He said Evison had done all the hard work in getting Vow And Declare over the tendon problem.
“We’ve just trained him as we would usually, albeit he’s down at Thirteenth Beach all the time,” O’Brien said.
“He’s done a lot of miles over the winter and his fitness is pretty good.
“He’s seven now and he hasn’t done a huge amount of racing, particularly over the last couple of years.
“He really does seem to be, mentally, in a great spot.
“He seems to be enjoying it and while he’s had a few setbacks over the last couple of years, none of them are any reason why he can’t get back to his best.”
Vow And Declare has not won a race since winning the 2019 Cup at Flemington in which he defeated UK stayer Prince Of Arran while he has not raced since finishing 11th to Nonconformist in the Group 3 Naturalism Stakes (2000m) at Caulfield last September.
