No three-year-old has claimed victory in the Canterbury Stakes for ten years, yet co-trainer Tom Charlton thinks Napoleonic is perfectly positioned in his campaign to end that run.

The most recent horse from his age bracket to defeat the seasoned sprinters was Holler back in 2016, who notably came from the stable of Charlton’s associate trainer, John O’Shea.

Each of those horses had won the Red Anchor Stakes (1200m) during the prior spring at Flemington, and each enters this Group 1 event after shortening from a 1400m outing, something Charlton views as vital for Napoleonic this Saturday.

“That should leave him in good stead this weekend,” Charlton said.

“He’s got good form, he comes into this third-up and, we feel, ready to run the best race of his preparation, which should put him right among the chances.”

Although March 7 was earmarked early for Napoleonic, his runner-up effort in the Hobartville Stakes (1400m) sealed the decision on his specific target that day.

O’Shea and Charlton considered the Randwick Guineas (1600m) as an option too, but decided the shorter distance suited better.

“We always had this race day as a plan, and we were just going to work out whether it was Randwick Guineas or Canterbury Stakes,” Charlton said.

“His last run was excellent, but we concluded the best option would be coming back to the 1300, rather than try to stretch him to a Randwick mile.”

Even with no recent three-year-old successes on the Canterbury Stakes (1300m) roll of honour, Napoleonic joins two other runners from his cohort, Beiwacht and Nepotism.

He adds to a powerful team for O’Shea and Charlton, which includes 2024 Randwick Guineas victor Linebacker and The Ingham winner Yorkshire, both returning in the race.

Both are aimed towards the Doncaster Mile, with Yorkshire back after a slight injury that sidelined him from last weekend’s Liverpool City Cup comeback, whereas Linebacker’s ideal kickoff has always been this Saturday.

A juvenile not appearing at Randwick is Scintillation, who got an unfavourable barrier in the Reisling Stakes (1200m).

Charlton noted she will travel south instead for the Group 3 Ottawa Stakes (1000m) at Flemington that same day.

“She’s going to run in Melbourne. Just the draw was a bit tricky in Sydney on Saturday.

“She did a good job on debut. She’s a nice, racy filly and hopefully we can get some black type.

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