South Australian-based Group 1 winners Go Indy Go and Happy Trails are both set to gallop between races at Morphettville Park on Saturday.
Go Indy Go has not recorded a race win since she took out the 2014 edition of the Champagne Stakes. Photo by: Steve Hart
Go Indy Go has not been seen at the races since she finished seventh behind Set Square in the Group 1 Crown Oaks (2500m) at Flemington on November 6 last year, but is working towards a return to racing and will make the first public appearance of her preparation this weekend.
Co-trainer Leon Macdonald revealed last month that Go Indy Go would be included in the nominations for both the Group 1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) and the Group 1 Cox Plate (2040m), but the Bernardini filly is set to start her campaign in the Group 3 Spring Stakes (1200m) at Morphettville on August 8 and contest the Listed Penny Edition Stakes (1400m) at the same venue on August 22 before she returns to Melbourne for a race like the Group 2 Stocks Stakes (1600m) at Moonee Valley on October 2.
Go Indy Go will be joined in the exhibition gallop by veteran galloper Happy Trails, who is set to contest the Cox Plate for the fourth year in a row after finishing tenth in 2012, a close second in 2013 and an unlucky sixth last year.
Happy Trails started his 2015 Melbourne Festival Of Racing campaign with a promising sixth behind Dissident in the Group 1 Orr Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on February 14 and he stamped himself as a clear favourite for the Group 1 Australian Cup (2000m) when he finished second behind Mourinho in the Group 2 Peter Young Stakes (1800m) at Caulfield on February 28.
The Good Journey gelding hit the line strongly in the Australian Cup at Flemington on March 14, but he was no match for Spillway and Extra Zero in the final stages and his 2015 Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival was plagued by wet tracks in both the Group 1 Doncaster Mile (1600m) at Royal Randwick on April 6 and the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) at the same venue a week later.
Trainer Paul Beshara is yet to confirm the path that Happy Trails will follow during the 2015 Spring Racing Carnival, but in recent years he has had his first Melbourne start in the Group 1 Memsie Stakes (1400m) before contesting races like the Group 1 Underwood Stakes (1800m) and Group 1 Turnbull Stakes (2000m) in the lead-up to the Cox Plate and the Group 1 Mackinnon Stakes (2000m).
Happy Trails is currently available at 2015 Cox Plate odds of $26 with Ladbrokes, while Go Indy Go is at a quote of $41 to claim the Caulfield Cup.
