A minor setback won’t derail Mcgaw’s spring campaign despite the colt missing Saturday’s Group 3 Vain Stakes (1100m) at Caulfield.
Trainers Emma-Lee and David Browne withdrew the three-year-old after he spiked a temperature on race eve, but they expect him to gallop at Caulfield next week before resuming in the Group 3 H D F McNeil Stakes (1200m) on August 30.
“He was just a bit dull on Friday afternoon,” Emma-Lee Browne said. “It was very minor … we didn’t want to flatten him first-up when he wasn’t 100 per cent.”
Stablemate Basilinna will also return that week in a 2000m handicap as she builds toward the Melbourne Cup (3200m).
The mare secured her Cup berth with victory in the Andrew Ramsden (2800m) and is being aimed to peak fifth-up on November 4.
Meanwhile, fellow Cup hopefuls Scary and Statuario are slated to resume in the So You Think Stakes (1500m) at Moonee Valley on September 6.