Roger Varian is looking forward to seeing how Enfjaar fares in Saturday’s Sportsbet Caulfield Cup.
The six-year-old stayed with the trainer having been sold by previous owners Shadwell Estates at Tattersalls in February and booked his trip Down Under by beating Opportunity and Al Aasy in the Coral Glorious Stakes at Goodwood in August.
Ray Dawson’s mount has drawn stall one at the weekend and the trainer told Tuesday’s Nick Luck Daily Podcast: “We’re very happy with him. He’s been there for two weeks or just over now. He’s settled into the Werribee quarantine facility very smoothly. George Tregoning is looking after things on our behalf, looking after Enfjaar and is very happy with the horse.
“The footage I’ve seen of him, he looks great and is eating well. He seems to be training well and I’m looking forward to getting out there at the weekend and seeing how we go.
“The partnership bought the horse in February with a view to having a little bit of summer fun and hoping he could just prove good enough to entertain an international campaign over the winter. Quite what direction that would look like we didn’t know but when he came away with the Glorious Stakes at Glorious Goodwood, that race was a win and you’re in for the Caulfield Cup.
“In terms of entry and selection that sowed the seed pretty strongly. We contemplated Kentucky Downs which was a few weeks ago now but once we considered everything the Caulfield Cup was very appealing, so at Goodwood or just after that, it’s been a realistic plan.”
The trainer hopes there’s more to come from his charge at the weekend.
“He’s relatively low mileage for an older horse, he’s always threatened to be very good, there are some very good career performances, a John Smith’s Cup winner as a four-year-old and some good performances in defeat since. I thought his run in the Wolferton last year was eyecatching and he actually ran very well in the same race this year, just losing track position but finishing like a train.
“We were hopeful he’d get the mile-and-a-half going to Goodwood which he did, and he probably produced a career-best so hopefully there’s a bit more to come at this trip.”
And connections aren’t ruling out a tilt at the Lexus Melbourne Cup if things go their way at the weekend
“We have gone out there for the Caulfield, that was the priority. We’ll, see how he runs, see how we fare and see how we pull up. Obviously, the Melbourne Cup is an option afterwards,” the trainer added.
More from Sporting Life
- Free bets
- Racecards
- Fast results
- Full results & free video replays
- Horse racing news
- Horse racing tips
- Horse racing features
- Download our free iOS & Android app
- Football & other sports tips
- Podcasts & video content
Safer gambling
We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.
If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.
Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.
