Co-trainer David Hayes has revealed that Criterion will continue his international racing career when he heads to Hong Kong and Japan next month.
Criterion will head to Hong Kong for the Hong Kong Cup and Japan for the Arima Kinen. Photo by: Ultimate Racing Photos
Criterion finished a gallant third behind Prince Of Penzance and Max Dynamite in the Group 1 Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington on Tuesday and Hayes indicated that the Sebring entire would head to the spelling paddock before returning to the races in the Group 1 Orr Stakes (1400m) during the 2016 Melbourne Festival Of Racing, but there has been a change of plans and the five-year-old will race on in 2015.
The four-time Group 1 winner finished third behind Designs On Rome and Military Attack in the Group 1 Hong Kong Cup (2000m) in December last year and he will have the chance to go two better in the 2015 edition of the race before he makes the trip to Japan for the Group 1 Arima Kinen (2500m) – one of Japan’s biggest races – in late December.
Criterion looks set to inherit the title of world’s racing biggest globetrotter form the recently retired Red Cadeaux after having 11 race starts in three different countries over the past 12 months.
He made his international racing debut with his brave third in the Hong Kong Cup and he returned to Australian racing with placings in both the Group 1 Canterbury Stakes (1300m) at Royal Randwick on March 7 and the Group 1 George Ryder Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill Gardens on March 21 before he produced the best performance of his career to date to take out the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) at Royal Randwick on April 11.
Criterion returned to Hong Kong for the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup (2000m) at Sha Tin on April 26 and he finished third before he was far from disgraced in both the Group 1 Prince Of Wales’s Stakes (2000m) at Royal Ascot on June 17 and the Group 1 Juddmonte International Stakes (2092m) at York on August 19.
The versatile entire came straight out of quarantine to win the Group 1 Ladbrokes Caulfield Stakes (2000m) at Caulfield on October 10 and he followed that up with extremely brave placings in both the Group 1 Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley on October 24 and the Melbourne Cup.
Criterion is currently available at 2015 Hong Kong Mile odds of $4.20 and he is currently locked in a battle for favouritism with Designs On Rome.
