Leading Sydney trainer Gai Waterhouse is expecting both Fiorente and Carlton House to run big races when they contest the 2014 Ranvet Stakes at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday.
Fiorente will face stablemate Carlton House in the 2014 Ranvet Stakes at Rosehill Gardens this weekend. Photo by: Race Horse Photos Australia
Fiorente and Carlton House have trained together their entire racing careers, with the duo prepared by Sir Michael Stoute in England, but will be meeting in a race for the first time in the Ranvet Stakes.
Carlton House produced his best performance since arriving in Australia when he finished second behind Opinion in the Listed Parramatta Cup (1900m) at Rosehill Gardens on March 1 and Waterhouse is expecting the Street Cry entire to produce another strong effort when he returns to weight-for-age conditions this weekend.
“They are both in super form,” Waterhouse told Sky Racing HQ.
“They both look marvelous; they are big strong horses and they will both run terrific races.
“Carlton House put his best foot forward the other day and ran absolutely scintillating times; I haven’t seen a horse for a long time run the times that he ran.
“He was beaten under handicap conditions and going back to handicap conditions should suit him admirably.”
Waterhouse confirmed yesterday that Fiorente would take his place in the Ranvet Stakes field and revealed that the Group 1 event was always on the agenda for the son of Street Cry following his impressive wins in the Group 2 Peter Young Stakes (1800m) and Group 1 Australian Cup (2000m) in Melbourne.
The Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) is the major target for Fiorente during the 2014 Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival and Waterhouse believes that running in the Ranvet Stakes is the right preparation for the $4 million event.
“Fiorente is just a champ isn’t he,” Waterhouse said.
“He has just shot the breeze and he has got a very big preparation in front of him, but he is enjoying every second of it.
“He loves his work and loves racing.
“He was always going to run in this race and then I had second thoughts.
“I didn’t want him to be too dour for the Queen Elizabeth and that is when I started to think that maybe I wasn’t going to run him in this race.
“It would have been over a month between runs and he is one of these big strong horses, he is happiest when he is racing, and I thought that we were best to push forward and stick to the original plan.”
Waterhouse is chasing an historic eighth victory in the Ranvet Stakes after previously winning the race with Stony Bay (1995), Electronic (1996), Grand Armee (2005), Desert War (2007), Tuesday Joy (2008) and Theseo (2009 and 2010).
