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.”