Ranvet Stakes 2015: Dominant Ready For Australian Racing Debut

Hong Kong-based galloper Dominant will make his Australian racing debut in the 2015 Ranvet Stakes at Rosehill Gardens this weekend and assistant trainer George Moore is happy with the condition of the talented stayer heading into the Group 1 event.

Dominant has not recorded a race win since he took out the 2013 edition of the Hong Kong Vase. Photo by: Daniel Costello

Dominant has not recorded a race win since he took out the 2013 edition of the Hong Kong Vase. Photo by: Daniel Costello

Dominant arrived in Australia at the start of the month and Moore told Sky Racing HQ that the Cacique entire has settled in well to his new environment and had not lost any weight during the flight to Australia.

Moore said that he will give Dominant a testing piece of trackwork tomorrow morning and he believes that will top the seven-year-old off nicely for the 2015 Ranvet Stakes.

“He is doing well and he is still eating up well, so he is pretty happy,” Moore said.

“We are going to gallop him over 1600 tomorrow just to give him a bit of a blowout and he should be right on track.

“He is holding weight well and hopefully we can put a couple more pounds on him in the next couple of days, but he hasn’t dropped any since he has been here, which is good.

“It is a big task to try and put weight on a horse when it is travelling, but if it can hold it the whole prep we are pretty happy.”

Dominant has been included in the nominations for both the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) and the Group 1 Sydney Cup (3200m) at Royal Randwick on April 11 and Moore said that Dominant’s performance in the Ranvet Stakes will dictate which races he contests during The Championships.

“We are just going to see how he performs over the 2000 metres and then see if we can do the 3200 metres in the Sydney Cup or go the shorter distance,” Moore said.

“So far he has been working very strong and he has been increasing his workload in the last couple of days and he has not been blowing as hard as did in his first few gallops.

“We couldn’t really ask for more to tell you the truth.”

Dominant defeated the likes of The Fugue, Dunaden, Red Cadeaux, Mount Athos and Simeon to win the 2013 edition of the Group 1 Hong Kong Vase (2400m), but he has been unable to record a race win since and he is currently available at 2015 Ranvet Stakes odds of $21 with Ladbrokes.

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Thomas Hackett

Thomas is a passionate and opinionated racing journalist and punter who has been obsessed with horse racing since he backed Saintly to win the 1996 Melbourne Cup. An international racing enthusiast, he has his finger on the pulse of racing news not just from Australia but all around the world.