Dalasan to begin campaign at Caulfield

Autumn options remain open for star Adelaide colt Dalasan with races in Melbourne and Sydney on the table.

The three-year-old ramped up preparations with a gallop at Morphettville on Tuesday accompanied by the Chris Bieg-trained Blue Diamond Stakes placegetter Free Of Debt who is making a comeback from injury.

Dalasan’s co-trainer Leon Macdonald said the only firm plan was to race at Caulfield on February 1.

He and managing owner Harry Perks will then work out whether to pursue the Australian Guineas and a start in the All-Star Mile in Melbourne or a Sydney campaign for the Randwick Guineas and possibly the Doncaster Mile.

“I think he would be suited by Sydney because he has a habit of laying in so racing in the opposite direction could help that,” Macdonald said.

“The Randwick Guineas is a week after the Australian Guineas in Melbourne so he can’t do both.

“But the Randwick race might be a bit easier than the Australian Guineas with Alligator Blood and Super Seth going there.

“We will work it out after his first start.”

Dalasan finished fifth as favourite in the Caulfield Guineas in which Super Seth nabbed Alligator Blood in the final stride.

Free Of Debt missed the spring because of a ligament injury.

Macdonald and his training partner Andrew Gluyas are pleased with Dalasan’s progress and he will have another jump-out next week.

“He went over 800 metres with Jason Holder riding and he and Free Of Debt went to the line together,” Macdonald said.

Hugh Bowman rode Dalasan in the Guineas and to his win in the Group Three Carbine Club Stakes at Flemington on November 2 which earned the colt a $1 million bonus because he had competed in a designated race in the lead-up.

Bowman took over from Macdonald’s stable jockey Raquel Clark who has since been sidelined with a head injury after falling from her mount after the line in a race at Morphettville on November 9.

Last season’s premier jockey in South Australia, Clark is still suffering the effects of the head trauma including memory loss.

Credit: AAP

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