James Cummings and the Godolphin race programmers will now get serious about putting Spring plans in place for some of their biggest names after a solid session of trials at Rosehill on Tuesday morning.
Tom Kitten and Zardozi fought out one trial, Aft Cabin and Kallos ran one-two in another and Pericles was runner-up at a session that also saw Chris Waller-trained stars Fangirl, Via Sistina, Zougotcha and Switzerland stretch their legs.
It was the second trial for several of Cummings’ team and Godolphin’s head trainer in Australia will now identify the most suitable starting point for each.
“It’s a long spring, but it doesn’t hurt to have them ready to go for where we feel they’re going to be best-placed,” Cummings said.
“So we’re keeping our options open and we’ll be discussing in more depth where exactly they’re going to go in upcoming weeks.”
The Group 2 PB Lawrence Stakes (1400m) will be run at Caulfield on Saturday week, with 1400m Group 1 races, the Winx Stakes and Memsie Stakes, to be run on August 24 and August 31 respectively.
Tom Kitten justified what Cummings described as a painful decision to geld the four-year-old when he worked home over the top of his rivals under light riding in a 1000m trial, which followed a fourth placing over 795m at Warwick Farm on July 15.
“It pained me to have him gelded but the enigmatic horse has been gelded and I think he’s really flying,” Cummings said.
Tom Kitten scored a half-head win over VRC Oaks winner Zardozi, who led was also given an easy time of things in what was her second trial.
Next over the line in that trial were Waller-trained stayers Francesco Guardi and Buckaroo with star mare Fangirl coming home last after idling in behind Zardozi for most of the trial.
Doncaster Mile runner-up Pericles was beaten a long-neck by dual Group 1 winner Tropical Squall in the first 1000m trial but coasted to the line under light riding, as did Riff Rocket and Via Sistina, who were beaten 1-3/4 lengths and two lengths respectively in fifth and sixth positions.
After Cabin and Kallos stepped out for the first time this campaign and were separated by three-quarters-of-a-length at the end of their 900m trial in which Zougotcha ran third and Switzerland fourth.