Trainer Ken Keys has confirmed that Rich Enuff will return to the races in the 2015 The Heath 1100 at Caulfield on August 29.
Rich Enuff was narrowly beaten by Shooting To Win in the 2014 edition of the Caulfield Guineas. Photo by: Race Horse Photos Australia
Rich Enuff has not been seen at the races since he failed to perform at his best in the Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) at Flemington on November 1, but he has been back in work for almost two months and is working towards the start of his 2015 Spring Racing Carnival campaign.
Keys told The Cranbourne Turf Club that Rich Enuff will make the first public appearance of his spring preparation when he contests a barrier trial at Cranbourne on August 10 and at this stage he will return to the races in the Group 3 The Heath 1100 (1100m) at Caulfield on Memsie Stakes Day as he builds towards the Group 1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on September 26.
“We’re planning on giving him his first trial on 10 August with the idea of starting his preparation at Caulfield on 29 August in The Heath Stakes,” Keys said.
“He is all the things you want to hear; looks well, is feeling well and working well.
“He’s 60 kilos heavier and has come on like I hoped he would.
“The aim for now is the Sir Rupert Clarke at the end of September, but his path will really be determined depending on his first-up run.
“We’ve got Damien Oliver engaged to ride him and we’ll just see how he goes with each race and go from there.”
Rich Enuff made his racing debut with a third place finish in the Friends Of Epworth Handicap (1000m) at Moonee Valley in March last year, but he went on to stamp himself as one of the best three-year-olds in Australia during the 2014 Spring Racing Carnival.
The Written Tycoon entire started his spring campaign with a dominant victory in the Listed McKenzie Stakes (1200m) at Moonee Valley on August 23 and he went on to win both the Group 2 Danehill Stakes (1200m) at Flemington on September 13 and the Group 3 Caulfield Guineas Prelude (1400m) on September 28 to stamp himself as a clear favourite for the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m).
Rich Enuff was forced to do plenty of work in the early stages of the Caulfield Guineas and he was bested in the final stage of the race by Shooting To Win to finish second before he finished seventh in the Coolmore Stud Stakes.
The Group 1 Orr Stakes (1400m) was set to be the early 2015 Melbourne Festival Of Racing target for Rich Enuff, but he was ruled out of the entire carnival after he injured his offside hind flexor tendon during track work.
