Trainer Mick Price has confirmed that star sprinter Lankan Rupee will trial at Cranbourne on Monday as he builds towards a return to racing in the 2015 Schillaci Stakes at Caulfield on October 10.
Mick Price is happy with the condition of Lankan Rupee ahead of the start of his 2015 Spring Racing Carnival campaign. Photo by: Sarah Ebbett
Lankan Rupee has not been seen at the races since he beat home just a single runner in the Group 1 T.J. Smith Stakes (1200m) at Royal Randwick on April 6, but Price believes that the son of Redoute’s Choice has recovered from the bone bruising that he was found to be suffering from following his lacklustre run.
Price told Racing Ahead that Lankan Rupee worked strongly at Caulfield yesterday morning and remains on track to start his 2015 Spring Racing Carnival campaign in the Group 2 Schillaci Stakes (1100m).
“He is good,” Price said.
“He is a little bit tubby at the moment, but he worked on the course proper on Tuesday and he is sound and happy.
“We just have to tune him up a little bit and he will be right for the tenth of October.
“I am just going through these official trials at Cranbourne next Monday and I think we will put in an entry for him there.
“He can trial there, have another trial and then he will be ready to resume in the Schillaci.”
Lankan Rupee finished a very close second behind Buffering in the Group 1 Moir Stakes (1000m) last year, but Price has been adamant that the six-year-old will not contest the Group 1 sprint this year.
The Moir Stakes is expected to lack the majority of the best sprinters in Australia, but Price said that he is extremely unlikely to reverse his decision and give the gelding the chance to turn-the-tables on Buffering.
“There is only eight days between the two, so you have to have a selection and banging him around 1000 metres at Moonee Valley is probably not the best thing to do,” Price said.
“It is not part of my plan at the moment.
“I would have to revisit it, but at the moment I don’t think so.”
Lankan Rupee will defend his title in the Group 1 Manikato Stakes (1200m) at Moonee Valley on October 23 after he runs in the Schillaci Stakes before he heads to Flemington for the Group 1 Darley Classic (1200m) on the final day of the 2015 Melbourne Cup Carnival.
