Price keeps Planet Red sharp for Caulfield test
New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale graduate Planet Red (Admire Mars) will take another step towards his A$10 million Gr.1 Golden Eagle (1500m) target when he contests Saturday’s Gr.1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield.
The Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr-trained four-year-old is among 24 nominations for the A$1 million feature, having resumed with a seventh placing in the Gr.1 Memsie Stakes (1400m) at the same venue on August 29.
Planet Red is being prepared for the Golden Eagle at Randwick on October 31, with Saturday’s assignment set to provide an important stepping stone towards that lucrative target.
Price has deliberately sharpened Planet Red’s work ahead of his second-up appearance, mindful that the 1400m is short of his optimum distance, a path he has followed with stablemate Sabaj (Manhattan Rain), who will also contest the Sir Rupert Clarke on Saturday.
“I cut their work down to half-mile (800m), home ‘three’ (600m) on the grass and they were both perky,” Price said, referring to the pair.
“Both of those horses, their best distance is 1600 and we’re trying to win a 1400-metre race with them, so I need them jumping up and down a little bit.
“They’re nice and fresh and they should show up at the end of 1400.”
Planet Red caught the eye first-up in the Gr.1 Memsie (1400m), settling towards the rear before making ground in the straight to finish seventh behind Beiwacht (Bivouac).
Price expects the Sir Rupert Clarke to present a different challenge, particularly if conditions are firm and the race is run at a genuine tempo.
“That (1400m) is not their ideal distance in a Group One handicap on top of the ground where they might run 1:22-something if it’s a good-run race,” he said.
“But this is the race we want to use to go to the Toorak and they’re both going well.”
Planet Red is set to progress from Saturday’s race to the Gr.1 Toorak Handicap (1600m) at Caulfield on October 10 before heading to Sydney for the Golden Eagle three weeks later.
The son of Admire Mars was purchased for $260,000 from Ohukia Lodge’s draft at the 2024 New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale.
