Trainer Stuart Webb is wary that a successful winter campaign may rule three-time Group One winning mare Yosei out of next month’s Cox Plate.
Webb said the four-year-old had come up well this preparation but said he was also mindful that she only had 22 days in the paddock after winning the Group One Tatts Tiara in Brisbane in June.
“It is hard to race that far into the winter carnival, then have a let up and back up in the spring,” Webb said.
“When you are going for the Cox Plate you want a better, longer preparation where you get the miles in her legs.”
Yosei finished 15th after over-racing and suffering a check when she resumed in the Bobbie Lewis Quality (1200m) at Flemington but Webb said she had trained on well for next Saturday’s Group One Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield.
As part of her preparation Yosei worked strongly with a partner at Sandown last Wednesday, breaking 22s for her last 400 metres.
Webb said it was a particularly impressive gallop in a work saddle and estimated she carried at least 62kg.
He said the Rupert Clarke would suit her and that she would be fitter again for the Group One Toorak Handicap (1600m) on October 8.
“We will decide after the Toorak whether we go to the Cox Plate or the (Group One) Myer Classic over 1600 metres at Flemington a week later,” Webb said.
“She would want to be running pretty good in the Toorak to go the Cox Plate and at the moment my preference is the Myer,” Webb said.
Yosei has got better as she has got older after winning the Group One AJC Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) as a two-year-old and the Thousand Guineas (1600m) last spring.
“She just keeps taking that next step,” Webb said.
“As a two-year-old she never worked like a brilliant horse but she actually works like a very good horse now.”
AAP TURF
