Sincero has not been seen at the races for a year, but trainer Stephen Farley is happy with the physical condition of the two-time Group 1 winner heading into the 2014 Premiere Stakes at Royal Randwick on Saturday.
Trainer Stephen Farley is hoping that Sincero gets through his first-up run in the Premiere Stakes without an issue. Photo by: Steve Hart
A range of injury problems have kept Sincero away from racing since he finished 13th in the Group 1 Epsom Handicap (1600m) at Royal Randwick on October 5 last year, but Farley believes that he is on top of the issues that have plagued the Umatilla gelding.
The Wyong-based trainer told Racing Ahead that he was very pleased with the barrier trial performance of Sincero at Royal Randwick on September 19 and he is hoping that the seven-year-old can finish in the first half of the field in the Group 2 Premiere Stakes (1200m) this weekend.
“He is bouncing around and very well in himself,” Farley said.
“He is coming along very well and his trial was very nice a couple of weeks ago.
“He is well enough in himself and we just hope that everything holds together.
“His condition is very good, he trialed very well the other day and he pulled up nice with it.
“He has had a nice slow grounding with it and I am pretty happy with where he is up to condition wise going into a 1200 metre race.
“He is resuming at 1200, which is a bit short of his best, but it is the only race left in Sydney at this time of the year.”
Sincero is a proven performer at Group 1 level, having taken out both the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) and Group 1 George Main Stakes (1600m) in 2011, but Farley said that he doesn’t have any goals at the highest level of racing for Sincero during the 2014 Spring Racing Carnival and will be taking it one start at a time with the veteran gelding.
“We haven’t really targeted anything and Saturday is our main goal at this stage,” Farley said.
“He may even go to the paddock at look at the autumn yet, but we will get through Saturday and worry about it then.
“I am just excited to get him back to the races.
“These horses don’t lose their ability and it is just a matter of what his legs let him do.”
Farley is chasing his first metropolitan winner since White Devon took out the Go The Wanderers Handicap (1900m) at Canterbury on April 30.
