Trainer Chris Waller is keen to win another Group 1 with Good Project and has earmarked the 2016 Doncaster Mile as the major Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival goal for the Railway Stakes winner.
Good Project will return to the races in the Liverpool City Cup at the end of February. Photo by: Steve Hart
Good Project started his 2015 Spring Racing Carnival campaign with a win in the Mack Trucks Handicap (1200m) at Rosehill Gardens on September 12 and he was placed in the More Than Winning Handicap (1400m) at Rosehill Gardens on September 26 and the Lindblad Expeditions Handicap (1600m) at Royal Randwick on October 10 before he returned to winning form in the Bartier Perry Lawyers Handicap (1600m) at the same venue a week later.
The Not A Single Doubt entire made his Melbourne racing debut with a second place finish behind Malaguerra in the Lavazza Short Black Handicap (1400m) at Flemington on Melbourne Cup Day and he was far too good for his rivals when he led from start to finish to take out the Group 1 Railway Stakes (1600m) at Ascot on November 21.
Waller said that Good Project’s win in the Railway Stakes was the culmination of a well-laid plan and he admits that the four-year-old will need to go to another level to win at the highest level in Sydney, but he told Sky Racing HQ that he has aimed the entire at the Group 1 Doncaster Mile (1600m) at Royal Randwick on April 2, with starts in the Group 3 Liverpool City Cup (1300m) at Warwick Farm on February 27 and the Group 2 Ajax Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill Gardens on March 12 in the lead-up.
“I would be the first to admit that the Western Australian form is not as strong as our spring and autumn form,” Waller said
“He was well-placed to win a $1 million race and we have to find the next way to win some more money as well.
“He will start in a pretty simple race, being the Liverpool City Cup, and then he will most likely run in a race like the Ajax and then go into the Doncaster as a lightweight chance.
“Being a colt and already a Group 1 winner, if he could win a Doncaster down in the weights that really would stamp himself as a colt because you can’t really go to stud on a Western Australian Group 1 win at the moment.”
Good Project is currently available at 2016 Doncaster Mile odds of $21 with Ladbrokes, while Winx ($8) is a narrow favourite from Press Statement ($9), Azkadellia ($11), First Seal ($13), Kermadec ($13), Turn Me Loose ($13), Vanbrugh ($13) and Xtravagant ($13).
