Having been given a taste of El Bodegon’s talent in the Cox Plate, Chris Waller is aiming high with the former French galloper ahead of his Sydney debut in the Apollo Stakes at Randwick.

The four-year-old was an eye-catching third to Anamoe in Australasia’s weight-for-age championship last spring but Waller revealed the Cox Plate was never his primary mission.

“The Queen Elizabeth (Stakes) is the race he was brought out to Australia to try to win,” Waller said.

“The Cox Plate, which he ran in, was just an entrée really.”

A four-year-old by southern hemisphere time, El Bodegon raced nine times in France where he was a Group 1 winner over 2000m and Group 1 placed up to 2400m.

However, he also performed well there over sprint trips and Waller was optimistic the entire could be competitive over 1400m first-up on Saturday against the likes of Godolphin star Anamoe.

“He is a compact horse, he’s not that one-paced horse, so I think he can be (competitive),” Waller said.

“His trials didn’t show a lot of dash so we shouldn’t be getting too confident, but I’d love to see him coming at them late, then you go to the Chipping Norton with a bit more confidence second-up.”

Given El Bodegon has already achieved at the highest level in Europe, a similar result in Australia would underscore his value at stud.

As such, the entire’s primary mission is a Group 1 win, and Waller would prefer to snare one sooner rather than later.

“I’d love to win a Group One with him early in the prep, then he’s a dual hemisphere Group One winner and he’s still a colt,” he said.

“If we could win one, then we could have a proper look at the Queen Elizabeth.”

The Apollo Stakes has been a handy recent guide to the Queen Elizabeth with three horses capturing both races in the past six years – Winx in 2017 and 2019 and Think It Over 12 months ago.