A surprise home town victory by Dominant in the Hong Kong Vase has opened up global possibilities including the Melbourne Cup.
The John Moore-trained gelding beat a high calibre field of international stayers in Sunday’s Vase (2400m) with The Fugue, Dunaden and Red Cadeaux finishing in that order behind him,.
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Dominant’s first Group One targets for 2014 will be the Dubai Sheema Classic in March followed by the Champion and Chater Cup in Hong Kong in May.
After those races, the trainer will talk to the five-year-old’s owners about sending Dominant to the Hawkes training team to be prepared for the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups in the spring.
“I’ll then sit down with the syndicate and ask them if they’ll give me permission to send him over to John Hawkes in Australia,” Moore told Melbourne’s RSN Radio.
“It would be probably four months before the big Cup races to make sure he has got the time to acclimatise and hopefully he can repeat what he did here.”
Moore admitted it was surprise to win the Vase, given the lack of suitable lead-up races in Hong Kong.
“We drew barrier 14 and I didn’t think he had the mileage in his legs,” he said.
“Zac (Purton) gave him a great ride. There was a little bit of interference in the race and we got lucky.
“The 2400 metre race is really put on for the Europeans.
“To get away with the race when I went into it not that confident, I’m in Disneyland.”
Dunaden, winner of the 2011 Melbourne Cup and 2012 Caulfield Cup, is among the possible entries for the Sydney autumn carnival as is Red Cadeaux.
Second in Dunaden’s Melbourne Cup and again runner-up this year to Fiorente, Red Cadeaux also has Dubai as an option.