Trainer Trent Busuttin has already listed the Group 1 Australian Guineas as El Roca’s main aim during next year’s autumn racing carnival.
El Roca hails from New Zealand,however, has had his last two runs in Australia as part of the recent Melbourne spring.
The three-year-old placed a close second in the Group 3 Caulfield Guineas Prelude in his first run, before placing a respectable fifth of 14 runners in the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas last start.
El Roca (inside) finsihing behind Eclair Big Bang (outside) in the Caulfield Guineas Prelude. Picture by Race Horse Photos Australia.
After a short five week break, El Roca is now back in work and ready to return for the major autumn features of 2014.
“He’s back in work now,” Busuttin said.
“We’ll get him up going.”
While the Australian Guineas is El Roca’s main aim, he will also keep the Group 1 Randwick Guineas on his radar.
“We’ll either go to the Australian Guineas or the Randwick Guineas just depending how he comes up,” Busuttin said.
“March the 1st for the Australian Guineas will roll round quick enough.
“That would be the main aim, but if we can’t get there we’ll go to the Randwick Guineas.
“Unless something jumps out of the ground between now and the autumn he’s probably going to be racing the same bunch of three-year-old and… he’s proved he can be competitive.”
Should El Roca be good enough to win at the top level against his own age, Bussutin would then try his luck in the open features such as the George Ryder Stakes and the $2 million Doncaster Mile.
“And if he’s good enough to pick up one of those three-year-old races I suppose the logical next step would be things like the George Ryder and the Doncaster which three year olds have a good record in,” he said.
“But he’s got to have the runs on the board first.”
El Roca has won two of his four race starts and has earned more than $80,000 in prize money.
