Berkeley Square out for Queen Elizabeth Stakes success
Melbourne Cup plans can be years in the making and Ballarat trainer Dan O’Sullivan is already thinking about next year’s race at Flemington.
The Melbourne Cup (3200m) is still more than 360 days away, but O’Sullivan’s stayer Berkeley Square will pass an important qualifying clause if he can run top three in the Group 3 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2600m) at Flemington on Saturday.
A win would be better again, but O’Sullivan is taking each step as it comes with Berkeley Square who started second favourite in the 2022 Victoria Derby (2500m) but wasn’t quite ready for the trip as a three-year-old.
Now as a mature five-year-old, and by the time next year’s Cup comes around Berkeley Square will be six, distance races seem to be the gelding’s forte.
For the first time since that Derby outing two years ago, O’Sullivan stepped Berkeley Square up to 2400m when second to Sea King in the Bendigo Cup on October 30 in which Melbourne Cup winner Knight’s Choice finished in fifth position.
“He was good, but the winner was just too good,” O’Sullivan said of Berkeley Square.
“We stepped slow, but we also wanted to make sure that we got cover so that we finished the race off being our first time out to the trip in quite a while.
“He did that and if you take the winner out, we go on and win the Bendigo Cup.
“He’s ticking over nicely and I’m looking forward to seeing him get out to that trip again.”
O’Sullivan said he had deliberately taken his time to step Berkeley Square up in trip again as he wanted the gelding to relax.
That is what Berkeley Square is now doing in his races and a big part of that has been apprentice Jaylah Keenedy who rides him in his work and has been aboard the gelding in his last five runs, for two wins and two second placings.
“We were always building up in distance this time in and we’ve gradually stepped our races up to get him out to 2400 metres,” O’Sullivan said.
“You still have to make sure you get it right and I think we’ve ticked that box off pretty good.
“Jaylah’s done nothing wrong on him so far, so we’ve stuck with her.
“It would be nice to win a good race and hopefully it’s this one.”
More Racing News
Dan Morton keeps faith with 2024 Railway Stakes mare
Trainer Dan Morton has shrugged aside Super Smink’s horror barrier draw and still thinks she can win the Group 1 Swan Draught-Railway Stakes (1600m) at Ascot on Saturday. A layer of complexity was added to Super Smink’s Railway Stakes bid after she was handed barrier 18, but Dan Morton is keeping the...
Timing right for Port Lockroy in G1 Railway Stakes bid
He’s one of five interstate raiders and the outsider of the quintet, but co-trainer, Rob Archibald believes there is a sense of timing about Port Lockroy in Saturday’s Group 1 Railway Stakes (1600m) at Ascot. Rob Archibald, who shares training duties with Annabel Neasham, says Port Lockroy put himself into Railway Stakes...
Royal task for Gilded Water at local debut
A benchmark race on The Gong undercard will add some Royal flavour to the stand-alone Kembla Grange meeting when a horse owned by His Majesty King Charles III makes his local debut. Four-year-old Gilded Water has been sent to Australia to continue his racing career, having started just four times in the...
Improving trio to fly flag for Godolphin at Kembla Grange
Godolphin doesn’t have a representative in The Gong, but James Cummings is content to rely on a trio of up-and-coming sprinters to carry the stable’s hopes at the stand-alone Kembla Grange meeting. Fleetwood will headline the leading yard’s squad when he resumes in the Group 3 The Warra (1000m), while Pisanello and Restonica contest benchmark...
Jason Collett hoping to find Express lane in The Gong
Jason Collett is resigned to the fact that he will be more reliant on luck than good management as he tries to coax another win out of Territory Express in the $1 million The Gong at Kembla Grange. The Provincial-Midway Championships Final victor in the autumn, Territory Express has a get-back racing pattern...
Mark Walker aims for ‘new’ hometown Cranbourne Cup
Trainer Mark Walker has a good record when in form New Zealand gallopers land in Australia. Walker’s latest ‘import’ is It’s A Wild Night who will have his first Australian outing in the Listed Cranbourne Cup (1600m) on Saturday. It’s A Wild Night arrived at Walker’s Cranbourne base just over a week ago...
Trainer Gavin Bedggood chasing Fortune in The Meteorite
Gavin Bedggood hopes the decision to take Oscar’s Fortune to Cranbourne for a midweek gallop will pay off handsomely on Saturday. Oscar’s Fortune runs in the $1 million The Meteorite (1200m), a new ‘slot race’ that Southside Racing, a merged entity of the Cranbourne and Pakenham Clubs, runs for the first time. The former...
Railway Stakes 2024 timing perfect for Baker’s Bel
In-form mare Belclare will need to overcome a wide alley to land her first Australian Group One win in the Railway Stakes at Ascot, and connections believe Nash Rawiller is the perfect man for the job. A two-time victor at the highest level in New Zealand, Belclare joined the Sydney stable of Bjorn...
John Stewart eyes Melbourne with 2024 Japan Cup fancy
Goliath faces one of the toughest tasks in racing this weekend, beating the Japanese at home in their biggest race, but John Stewart is already planning his next moves with his star recruit and Australia is on the itinerary. The ambitious American has quickly become a powerful investor in Australian racing and...
Hedged poised to give The Warra rivals a trim-up
The Magic Millions carnival is the campaign focal point for promising sprinter Hedged, but trainers Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr are hoping he can knock off a feature race along the way. The gelding will resume in the Group 3 The Warra (1000m) at Kembla Grange on Saturday, his first start...