After transporting Caviar Heights across the globe, assistant trainer Isabella Paul to William Haggas finds it hard to accept that the horse’s main obstacle at Rosehill is a elite domestic runner.
The five-year-old, who journeyed to Australia with experienced globetrotter and stable companion Dubai Honour, is set to compete in Saturday’s Neville Sellwood Stakes (2000m), a race also serving as the Down Under debut for the $10 million acquisition and recent Group 1 victor Barnavara.
“That’s going to be tough for us,” Paul said.
“She is a top class filly. But I’m very happy, I don’t think we could have him in a better place.
“It always helps having Dubai Honour down here because he is such a pro.
“The other horse has followed his lead. I’m really happy with where they’re at. They look fantastic in their coats, they are maintaining their weight well, and I’m really looking forward to Saturday.”
Whereas Dubai Honour, a Tancred Stakes hopeful, has plenty of Australian experience including this third trip to Sydney, Caviar Heights remains more of an unknown entity.
The bulk of his stakes-level performances have come in Listed events across Europe, with a pair of placings under Haggas during the English winter season.
Paul notes that he has been a developing project due to his habit “to be a little bit free” during races and training, though he is beginning to improve.
“He led on both those occasions, and – we haven’t talked tactics with the boss yet – but I wonder whether we might just try to drop him in,” she said.
“He probably wants to be fairly handy, but he just has that tendency to slightly over-race. We saw it in his last run last season. He led and he was pestered, and it didn’t suit him at all, and he finished fifth of six.
“Hopefully, if we can just get him to do it the right way, he’s got a big future ahead of him.”
Rather atypically for a European arrival, the majority of Caviar Heights’ record is on good ground, though he managed a placing in soft going earlier on.
Tom Marquand will once more partner the pair of Haggas imports.
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