Sutton's bold Feroce warning to rivals

Dom Sutton believes Group 1 winner Feroce (NZ) (Super Seth) has returned “as good, if not better” than ever ahead of his spring return in Saturday's P.B. Lawrence Stakes at Caulfield.

Now a five-year-old, Feroce will launch another spring campaign over 1400 metres as Sutton looks to build on the performances that have already established him as the flagship galloper of his stable.

“He's definitely turned into a man" Sutton said.

“He's a big, mature horse and, yeah, I'm really happy with the way that he's prepping up so far.”

Sutton believes there is evidence Feroce may even have improved from the horse who emerged as a Group 1 performer earlier in his career.

“I think, first-up last preparation, it showed that he's going as well, if not maybe even a little better than what he was as a three-year-old,” Sutton said.

“He obviously went very close to beating Tom Kitten (Harry Angel) … and I think that was probably nearly one of his best performances in his career.

“Everything we're seeing is that he's come back as good, if not better than what he has done in the past.” 

While Sutton is delighted with Feroce's condition, the likely soft Caulfield surface presents a complication.

“He is a horse that likes to be on top of the ground, so it is something we're gonna have to just watch over the next twenty-four hours, to see what condition the track is,” Sutton said.

“He's a horse that does like a good surface, so that would be a question mark.”

Sutton said a final decision could be left until race morning if the track remained particularly testing, although he indicated Feroce was still more likely than not to take his place.

“I'd say more than likely we will run, just due to how strong the Memsie's coming up,” he said.

“We'll run if we can.”

Feroce's strong first-up record and previous performances over the Caulfield 1400m give Sutton confidence heading into the race.

“He likes the fourteen hundred at Caulfield and, yeah, I've been really happy with the way that he's trialled,” he said.

Sutton is keeping Feroce's spring program flexible, particularly after learning last preparation that his star performs best when given sufficient time between runs.

“Something that we have planned to do this spring is to have him up nice and early to then be able to space his runs,” he said.

Feroce's effectiveness from 1400m through to 1600m leaves numerous options available, while Sutton has not ruled out testing him over further later in the preparation.

“If he went and won on Saturday, you got a Makybe at Flemington,” Sutton said.

“He's a Group 1 winner over a mile at Flemington, so it'd be nice to get him back at that trip and distance, trip and distance and track, I should say.”

Sutton also mentioned Sydney's lucrative 7 Stakes as another possible target.

“We've got lots of options,” he said.

“We just wanna get through Saturday first and then sort of make a plan from there.”