Toowoomba trainer Steve Tregea is tempted to take his best horses Bergerac and Niccanova to Rockhampton for the carnival.
The two were scratched from the Sunshine Cost on Saturday when the track was rated a heavy eight.
Tregea said he would probably have run both had the track been a soft six or better.
“The bottom line is that at this stages of their preparations I didn’t want to flatten them with runs on heavy tracks,” Tregea said.
Niccanova showed his class last season when he won the Fred Best Classic and ran third in the Queensland Guineas.
He has had only one run since the Guineas when he won at Doomben in March and his winter preparation has been hindered by some minor problems.
“It has been nothing serious but it just put him behind a bit. I am tempted to take him to Rockhampton on Friday for the Newmarket,” Tregea said.
“He has worked very well and is ready to race. One thing a Newmarket trip would see how he handles going away.
“It would give us some idea of how he would handle a trip to say Sydney later on.”
Bergerac is headed to the Rockhampton Cup (1600m) on Saturday after running at Toowoomba on Sunday.
Bergerac ran on well to be just behind the placegetters in an unsuitably short 1000m-race.
“I entered him in Toowoomba on Sunday as a back-up because we have had rain in Toowoomba and the jump-outs on Tuesday could be on the cushion track,” Tregea said.
“It was too short for him but he ran on a good track surface which is the Toowoomba course proper.”
Article from JustHorseRacing.com.au