After a forgettable day at the Gold Coast, the team around Avilius is expecting a much brighter showing in Saturday’s Group 1 Channel 7 Doomben Cup.
The seven-year-old was knocked around early in the Hollindale Stakes and was always in a tricky spot after that, before running on late to finish fourth, 4.5lengths adrift of the winner Zaaki.
Godolphin’s Nacim Dilmi says Avilius continues to please in the stable and feels he will be better suited by the 2000m at Doomben than he was by 1800m at the Coast.
“We always had a query whether the Gold Coast track was going to be to his liking and everything went wrong from the start,” Dilmi said.
“He got bumped at the start, Nash (Rawiller) had to go really wide around the turn.
“We’ve done a few things different with him this week, we’ve jumped him and taken him to the beach a couple of times.
“He’s pretty casual, very easy to deal with, a good eater, his demeanor is very good and everything is very good about him.”
Dilmi noted they would have preferred the Cup was run on a similar surface to the Soft rated track at Doomben last week, but setting that aside, Avilius is showing he’s ready to return to the excellent form he showed in three Sydney runs this autumn.
Meanwhile, Chris Munce is hoping to pinch a Stradbroke start with consistent gelding Stampe when he runs in the Group 3 BRC Sprint at Doomben.
Stampe was only beaten a short way when sixth first up in the Victory Stakes, before finishing on the heels of the placegetters in the Gold Coast Goldmarket a fortnight ago.
“He had a couple of days in the paddock after the Goldmarket,” Munce said.
“He’s in good order. It would be nice to see him win to ensure he gets into the (Stradbroke).”
Article from JustHorseRacing.com.au