The Summit attempts to enhance Caulfield Cup credentials at Caulfield

Lindsay Park import The Summit will attempt to enhance his Caulfield Cup credentials in a Stakes race at Caulfield.

The Summit snuck into the Listed Heatherlie Stakes (1700m) on Saturday with his trainers Ben, Will and J D Hayes looking to enhance his rating with a win, or placing, ahead of his next assignment.

The Group 3 Naturalism Stakes (2000m) is on the drawing board for The Summit’s next outing with that race providing a ballot exemption into the Group 1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) on October 21.

After starting his career in France ahead of a stint in Hong Kong where he suffered a tendon injury, The Summit has had two starts in Australia.

After pleasing first-up at Flemington in June, The Summit then went on to win over 1600m at Moonee Valley on July 29.

Ben Hayes explained Saturday’s race had been in mind for The Summit since that last start win.

“He came through his win really well and we’ve been able to sneak into this race which is really exciting,” Hayes said.

“We had the option of running over 2000 metres last week at The Valley, but being a French horse, an athletic and lightly framed horse, we thought the month between runs with a nice trial was more suitable and keeping him at 1700 metres was also better.

“The dream is to hopefully get him to the Caulfield Cup, so if he runs well that is the direction we will be heading.

“Ideally, we will go to the Naturalism and then to the Caulfield Cup, but there are also plans B, C and D if that doesn’t work out.”

The Summit only just made the cut for Saturday’s race, but with Listed status, a win, or a placing, would see The Summit lift his rating to get a run in the Naturalism in three weeks’ time.

The Lindsay Park stable also has Makram in Saturday’s contest but are undecided whether to run the gelding after drawing the widest barrier.

“He loves 1700 metres second-up, but I wish the race was at Flemington,” Hayes said.

“We’re not 100 per cent on running, so we’ve just got to have a good think about it.

“We might wait for Flemington in two weeks as there’s an open 1700-metre race there that we could head towards instead.”