Fawkner is set to begin another Spring Racing Carnival campaign in the 2015 Memsie Stakes and co-owner Nick Williams is confident that the Caulfield Cup winner is in as good a shape as ever ahead of his return to racing.
Fawkner will return to the races in the 2015 Memsie Stakes at Caulfield next Saturday. Photo by: Race Horse Photos Australia
Fawkner was sent to the spelling paddock after he finished a credible tenth behind Protectionist in the Group 1 Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington on November 4 and the Macedon Lodge Team elected not to run him during the autumn in order to save him for another spring preparation.
The Reset gelding started his 2014 Spring Racing Carnival campaign with a close second behind Dissident in the Group 1 Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m), but Williams told Racing Ahead that the eight-year-old will start this year’s preparation in the 2015 Memsie Stakes as long as he performs well in trackwork on Tuesday morning.
“He is really good,” Williams said.
“He is a horse that is very predictable in his work and Eddie Cassidy, who has ridden him in almost every gallop since he was two, thinks that he is in as good a shape if not better shape than he was this time last year.
“We are exactly the same position as were last year, but this year we will kick him off in the Memsie.
“He will do his last piece of work on Tuesday and then we will lock it in stone, but the odds are that he will run in the Memsie and I think that he will run well.”
Macedon Lodge are yet to decide on the exact path that Fawkner will follow during the 2015 Spring Racing Carnival, but he will likely run in the Group 1 Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m) at Flemington on September 12 and defend his title in the Group 1 Caulfield Stakes (2000m) on October 10 before he attempts to go one better in the Group 1 Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley on October 24 after finishing a very close second behind Adelaide in the race last week.
Fawkner will have the chance to record his third win at Group 1 level during the 2015 Spring Racing Carnival after winning the Group 1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) in 2013 and the Caulfield Stakes last year.
Fawkner is currently available at 2015 Cox Plate odds of $17 with Ladbrokes and is on the seventh line of betting behind Arod ($10), Contributer ($10), Highland Reel ($12), Criterion ($13), Hartnell ($15) and Pornichet ($15).
