Promising stayer Our Voodoo Prince is set to garner plenty of attention when he returns to the races in the 2014 Show County Quality at Royal Randwick on Saturday, but trainer Chris Waller has revealed that he would be happy if the imported galloper finished in the middle of the 11 horse field.
Our Voodoo Prince will start his 2014 Spring Racing Carnival campaign in the Show County Quality at Royal Randwick this weekend. Photo by: Race Horse Photos Australia
Our Voodoo Prince joined the Waller stable at the end of last year after being trained by Ed Dunlop in the United Kingdom and he stamped himself as a Group 1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) contender with three impressive performances during his autumn campaign in Australia.
The Kingmambo gelding made his Australian racing debut with a win in the Surdex Steel Handicap (1600m) at Sandown on March 22 and he took out the Community Raceday Handicap (2000m) at Flemington on April 5 before scoring his maiden win at Group level in the Easter Cup (2000m) at Flemington on April 19.
Waller believes that Our Voodoo Prince will need to improve significantly to be competitive in a race like the Caulfield Cup and he is not expecting a particularly impressive effort from the six-year-old first-up in the Show County Quality.
“Our Voodoo Prince there will be a lot of eyes on him,” Waller said.
“To me he is just a standard horse and he has a long way to go, so I won’t talk him up too much here.
“This Saturday will tell us where we are at in terms of the start of our prep and he will certainly take a long of benefit from that.
“If he could run a nice midfield race I would be ticked pick.”
Our Voodoo Prince has garnered plenty of attention since arriving in Australia and his profile has been boosted by the success of his half-brother Australia, who added a win in the Group 1 Juddmonte International at York overnight to his previous victories in the Group 1 Epsom Derby (2423m) and Group 1 Irish Derby (2414m).
Waller said that he has been hounded by questions about Our Voodoo Prince ahead of the 2014 Spring Racing Carnival and admits that he has been surprised by how much interest there has been in the imported stayer.
“Every second query we get is about Our Voodoo Prince and he is a very talked about horse,” Waller said.
“He is much anticipated heading into the spring, which surprises me.
“He has had three starts since we purchased him and three wins including a Group 3 Easter Cup down in Melbourne.”
Our Voodoo Prince is currently available at odds of $17 in the 2014 Show County Quality betting market; with Terravista ($3) a clear favourite from Cluster ($4.80).
