Trainer Rex Lipp has confirmed that the 2014 Caulfield Cup is on the agenda for 2014 Queensland Oaks winner Tinto.
Tinto scored his maiden Group 1 victory in the 2014 Queensland Oaks at Eagle Farm last weekend. Photo by: Daniel Costello
Tinto stamped herself as a horse to watch with a strong staying effort in the Group 1 Queensland Oaks (2400m) at Eagle Farm on Saturday; with the daughter of Red Dazzler finishing over the top of well-backed favourite Arabian Gold in the final stages of the race to claim a maiden Group 1 victory.
Lipp admits that he is still unsure whether Tinto is a genuine 2400 metre horse, but told Sky Racing’s Racing Retro on Sunday that the rising four-year-old would be entered for the Group 1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) during the 2014 Spring Racing Carnival.
“There’s nothing here in Queensland, so we’ll definitely have to go down south,” Lipp said.
“We’ll probably look to go to Caulfield for some early fillies and mares races in Melbourne during the Spring Carnival for sure.
“If she comes back to what we think she is, the Group 1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) will be definitely be the one in our minds.
“We will just have to find the lead up races to that sort of thing and see how she goes.
“Whether she’s a genuine 2400m horse only time will tell.
“You have to bear in mind with Arabian Gold; I wasn’t overly confident it’d run the 2400m out and it ran second.
“So just how strong the Queensland Oaks is over 2400 remains to be seen, but this filly is very good over 2000m anyway.”
Champion mare Ethereal was the last Queensland Oaks winner to take out the Caulfield Cup and in recent years winners of the Queensland Oaks have failed to replicate their three-year-old form as older horses.
Last year’s winner Gondokoro has not won a race since her Queensland Oaks victory, while 2012 victor Quintessential was unable to win at Group 1 level as an older horse and was retired before the running of the Caulfield Cup last year after failing to impress during her spring campaign.
The last Queensland Oaks winner to contest the Caulfield Cup was Bart Cummings-trained Riva San, who beat home just a single runner behind All Too Good in 2008 and two-time Group 1 winner Eskimo Queen was scratched from the 2007 edition of the race after being laying down in the gates before the running of the race, which led to the scratching of dominant pre-race favourite Maldivian.
Tinto has been sent to the spelling paddock and will return in roughly six weeks to begin preparations for the 2014 Spring Racing Carnival.
