Chris Waller’s six Warwick Stakes runners didn’t figure in the placings but the champion trainer came away from the race satisfied all were on track for the spring.
The Group Two feature was won on Saturday by New Zealander Veyron who nailed Streama in a photo finish.
Race leader and odds-on favourite Rain Affair clung on for third after setting a fast tempo that strung the field out.
Waller went into the race with modest expectations for his runners whose major goals are later in the spring but he came away satisfied with the efforts of them all.
Doomben Cup winner Beaten Up led the stablemates home and signalled he was in for a big campaign with a slashing fourth.
He is likely to head straight to Melbourne for next month’s Dato Tan Chin Nam Stakes.
The injury-plagued Metal Bender was an eye-catching sixth at his first run in 16 months and will race again at Randwick in two weeks.
“Outstanding,” Waller said of Metal Bender.
“I’d say he’s ready for the mile of the Chelmsford in two weeks. If he’s not he can go to the Tramway.”
Shoot Out, who was pencilled in to resume in the Warwick Stakes, is now likely to resume in the Tramway Handicap (1400m) at Randwick on September 7.
Waller said Shoot Out was “still a bit fat” and would head to the barrier trials on Friday.
Taking on the older horses for the first time, last season’s Queensland Derby winner Hawkspur convinced Waller he was on target for a Cups campaign with his seventh, while Foreteller, who will be aimed at the Mackinnon Stakes, was eighth.
“Hawkspur was super against the big boys the first time,” Waller said.
“He will be set for the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups.”
Those races are also the goals for Kelinni who finished 10th in the Warwick Stakes and will follow a weight-for-age path in Sydney before heading south.
Waller is drawing inspiration from Cups King Bart Cummings in the planning of Kelinni’s campaign.
“He will have the Bart Cummings’ 10,000 metres in his legs by the time he gets to the Melbourne Cup.”
Waller’s remaining Warwick Stakes runner, the Metropolitan Handicap-bound Moriarty, was 12th of the 13 runners.
