Dual Group 1 winner Foreteller is set to remain in Melbourne for the remainder of the 2013 Spring Racing Carnival and is expected to have his next race start in the Group 1 Underwood Stakes (1800m) at Caulfield on September 21.
Foreteller will head to the Underwood Stakes after his impressive victory in the Makybe Diva Stakes at Flemington last Saturday. Photo by: Race Horse Photos Australia
Foreteller caused one of the biggest upsets of the day at Flemington on Saturday, on a card that was filled with surprising results, by beating 2013 Melbourne Cup favourite Puissance De Lune in the Group 1 Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m).
Trainer Chris Waller made a late decision to bring Foreteller to Melbourne for the Group 1 event, rather than stay in Sydney for the Group 2 Chelmsford Stakes (1600m), and he told Sky Racing HQ that the Dansili gelding will continue to race in Melbourne for the rest of his spring campaign.
“I was tempted to back him up this Saturday (in the Dato’ Tan Chin Nam Stakes),” Waller said.
“We still need to be positive with him, he may still have a bit more improvement in him, and he will go to the Underwood and certainly stay in Melbourne now that we have the base there.
“It is a good asset to the stable and it puts horses in their comfort zone when they are in a nice stable with the same routine that they have at home.
“It makes the job a lot easier that is for sure.”
Despite winning the Group 1 Ranvet Stakes (2000m) during the 2013 Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival and finishing second behind Beaten Up in the Group 1 Doomben Cup (2000m) earlier this year, Waller said in the lead-up to the Makybe Diva Stakes that he did not believe that Foreteller was good enough to mix it with the Group 1 spring horses in Melbourne.
A typically modest Waller was still talking down his charges effort yesterday and said he believes that Puissance De Lune will be the horse to watch coming out of the Makybe Diva Stakes.
“It was one of those days where it did work out in our favor, all be it by a small margin,” the leading trainer said.
“I guess we just caught Puissance De Lune with a little bit more fitness on our side through that Queensland preparation and a tough first-up run over 1400 meters just two weeks before.
“I certainly think that Puissance De Lune is the horse to follow throughout the spring but fortunately we got the prize on Saturday.
Forteller’s win on Saturday was Waller’s third Group 1 victory in Melbourne and he will be chasing his first success in the Group 1 Underwood Stakes when Foreteller contests the race in just over a weeks’ time.
