Gringotts on target for Big Dance three-peat
Trainer Ciaron Maher is unlikely to change a winning formula with Gringotts (NZ) (Per Incanto) going into the Listed A$1.5 million Alan Brown Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday.
Gringotts has contested this race the last two years, finishing second both times when beaten by Here To Shock (2024) and Headley Grange (2025).
But Gringotts bounced out of those narrow losses to win successive Big Dances over the famous Randwick mile course on Melbourne Cup Day.
Gringotts, who finished two lengths behind champion mare Autumn Glow when fifth in the Seven Sunrise Stakes last start, is among 24 entries for the Alan Brown and is the $4.50 early favourite ahead of last year's winner Headley Grange at $6 with Lady Shenandoah.
Maher's Sydney stable manager Johann Gerard-Dubord said it was likely Gringotts would take his place in Saturday's Rosehill race.
"We have got two options for him – either run this week in the Alan Brown where he will have a bit of weight, or you could wait for the King Charles next week where he will have to face Autumn Glow again,'' Gerard-Dubord said.
"But his main target this preparation has been The Big Dance. Last year he ran in the Alan Brown heading towards the Big Dance and it just works well timing-wise.
"It's three weeks from his last start and then three weeks and three days into The Big Dance.
"At this stage the plan would be to run this week, but we will nominate, likely accept and if we felt the race didn't suit, whether it's track conditions or whether it's a barrier, we still have the option to go to King Charles next week.''
Maher's marvellous miler Gringotts is the $3 favourite in early TAB Fixed Odds betting to complete a three-peat in the $3milIon The Big Dance (1600m) at Royal Randwick on November 3.
