The John Sargent-trained Brandenburg will look to add to his tally of wins as he lines up to contest the Royal Randwick 100 Handicap on Saturday.
The four-year-old finished last in his first run back from a spell, but was only beaten 4.8 lengths.
A steep improvement is expected of the gelding, who has been placed in black-type races when second-up in previous campaigns.
The son of Burgundy was also nominated for the All Aged Stakes at Group 1 level, but Sargent has elected to go with an easier route, with a trip to the Gold Coast in his sights.
“It’s just going to be an easier run because he’s going to be peaking next start after this at the Hollindale Stakes at the Gold Coast,” he said.
“I’ll claim with Louise Day, so he’ll go in there with 59.5Kg. He’s got a bit of class about him and if he gets a draw he can position up and should run a big race.
“It’s a lot easier than the group race and I don’t think I needed to go there yet because we’re aiming for two weeks’ time and then the Doomben Cup after that.
“I think he’ll be really hard to beat on Saturday all the same.”
After impressing in his three-year-old autumn campaign, Brandenburg failed to fire in the spring through five starts, with his best placing a third in the Group 3 Bill Ritchie Handicap (1400m).
Although finishing last in his first-up run, it wasn’t as bad as it looked on paper, with the son of Burgundy hitting the line well over the final 100 metres.
Connections elected to geld Brandenburg over the summer in hope of the rising five-year-old realising his full potential as a racehorse.
“We had to geld him to get the best out of him. That should come now,” he said.
“He was in the worst going out there (first up), it was a no-go zone on the day and I think we’ll see a different horse on Saturday.
“He’s got a bit of class about him and he’s been gelded now. It’ll be good to get him out to a trip.
“I’m very happy with the horse and it’s all systems go.”
With the major carnivals over for the autumn, the attention turns to the Queensland Winter Carnival before an exciting spring ahead.
Sargent says Brandenburg will be targeted toward a big spring if able to recapture his old form.
“The main aim will be down in Melbourne in the spring. If he’s up to it maybe a Cox Plate or something like that,” he said.
”He’ll just have a couple of starts in the Brisbane winter up there and have the residual fitness to be ready and go down to Melbourne in the spring.
“We’ve only got him out to a mile so far, but I think we’ll see the best of him out to 2000m.”
Article from JustHorseRacing.com.au
