A trip to the United Kingdom for the 2016 Royal Ascot meeting is on the agenda for Darley Classic winner Delectation if he performs at his best during his upcoming autumn campaign.
Delectation upset Chautauqua to win the 2015 edition of the Darley Classic. Photo by: Ultimate Racing Photos
Delectation was included in the nominations for the 2016 Dubai World Cup Carnival that were released at the end of last year and although Waller does not believe that the Shamardal gelding will make it to the rich meeting, he still holds overseas ambitions for the Group 1 winner.
Waller told Sky Racing HQ that Delectation will return to the races in the Group 1 Black Caviar Lightning Stakes (1000m) at Flemington on February 20 and will press on to the Group 1 Newmarket Handicap (1200m) at the same venue three weeks later before he potentially heads to Royal Ascot for a maiden international racing opportunity.
“We will get Australia out of the way first,” Waller said.
“We are so lucky in Australia because we have great prizemoney and we have options.
“If you go all the way to Dubai or England you corner yourself with only one or possibly two races and you corner yourself with the quarantine factor when you get home.
“He has been set for the Lightning over the 20th of February over 1000 metres at Flemington and then it is the Newmarket on the 12th of March, which would be about Dubai World Cup time
“I doubt he could get there, but it is a big priority for us to get one or two horses to Ascot this year.
“Being a weight-for-age sprinting performer and very good down the straight, he is right on the top of the list to go to Ascot.”
Delectation has been an inconsistent performer during his racing career to date, but he lived up to his potential with three impressive runs during the 2015 Spring Racing Carnival.
The four-year-old returned to the races with a more than credible second behind Chautauqua in the Group 2 Gilgai Stakes (1200m) at Flemington on October 4 and he had no luck in running whatsoever when he finished fourth in the Group 2 Tab.Com.Au Stakes (1200m) at Flemington on Victoria Derby Day before he upstaged the likes of Chautauqua, Terravista and Buffering in the Group 1 Darley Classic (1200m) at the same venue a week later.
Delectation is currently available at 2016 Black Caviar Lightning Stakes odds of $7 with Ladbrokes and he is on the fourth line of betting behind Chautauqua ($3), Exosphere ($3.20) and Terravista ($5).
