Racing Odds: El Roca Arrives For The Melbourne Spring
August 7th, 2014 by Pom de TurfThere’s a lot to be said for getting in early and getting settled down, and that’s exactly what El Roca’s team will be thinking for their charge after he landed in Australia ahead of the Regal Roller Stakes at Caulfield on August 16th. It’ll be the Melbourne Spring in sight after that, and we’re expecting El Roca to feature in the Racing odds as we get towards October and November…
Trent Busuttin is the New Zealand-based trainer who will be in charge of El Roca’s path through the Spring Season, and he’s been talking to Racing Ahead: ‘he has come up good and he has probably come up a lot quicker than we thought this time in. We have brought his campaign forward by three weeks and he will be on a plane on Saturday night over to Australia and head towards the Regal Roller Stakes first-up. We are staying at Russell Cameron’s Flemington boxes where most of the Kiwis normally stay for the Carnival. There is a good set-up there and I am looking forward to it. He is at the same stage. He is probably going to try tomorrow just depending on weather conditions and he will be there for a very easy day out. If he doesn’t trial and the bad weather comes it won’t affect him and he will be primed to go first-up.’
Probably the most important test for El Roca will be on August 30th, when he’s set to take part in what will likely be a tough Memsie Stakes. Don’t expect to see him over much more than 1400m, though – at least early on in his preparations: ‘it is a bit of an unknown and he is probably a bit suspect at a mile. He really hasn’t had a chance to put his best forward form; in the Caulfield Guineas and the wet track of a Doncaster he didn’t get to show his best, but he did range up in the Randwick Guineas and look the winner but he didn’t get across the line. Probably the way I am thinking at this stage is that we will be keeping him to the 1200 and 1400s, but he will guide us as he goes along.’
So look out for El Roca: this is a decent prospect out of New Zealand who will feature in the Racing odds at the end of the link there…
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