News

Mackinnon a chance for Carrara

24th Sep 2009

AAP Racing - Robert Windmill - Thursday, 24 September 2009

Tony Vasil has flagged the weight-for-age Mackinnon Stakes as an alternative to the Victoria Derby for emerging star three-year-old Carrara.

Vasil said it was questionable that Carrara would run the 2500-metre Derby distance but should the Elvstroem colt continue to improve this campaign the Mackinnon could be a realistic goal on the same day.

"He is in the Derby but I am not sure he will run that far," Vasil said.

He said that while Carrara's sire Elvstroem won the 2003 Victoria Derby and 2004 Caulfield Cup, his Hurricane Sky dam Crystal Sprite hailed from a sprinting family.

On Friday night Carrara is odds-on favourite to win his first test at 1600 metres in the Group Two Bill Stutt Stakes at Moonee Valley as a prelude to the Group One Caulfield Guineas (1600m) on October 10.

"I will be stunned if he doesn't get the mile (1600m)," Vasil said.

He said the Norman Robinson Stakes (2000m) and the AAMI Vase (2040m) were races that could determine if Carrara is up to the Derby.

He said winning the Classic wasn't necessarily an advantage for colts from a breeding perspective which brought the Mackinnon into focus.

"It is alright for a filly to win an Oaks but if a colt wins the Derby it is like a stake through the heart," Vasil said.

Casual Pass in 2003 was the last three-year-old to win the Mackinnon.

Vasil said Carrara had all the attributes you could wish for in a horse and that he had detected elements of Elvstroem in his make-up.

"He is a real son of his dad as his dad was the toughest horse you'd ever come across," Vasil said.

"He (Carrara) is a ripper. He is very workmanlike; a tough, consistent, honest horse."

Vasil said the Caulfield Guineas was only part of the big picture for Carrara this spring and that the Stutt Stakes was planned for him two months ago after he had campaigned so well in Queensland and spelled in the sunshine before returning to Melbourne for the spring.

"It did it him the world of good being up there," Vasil said.

"It is alright to aim solely and purely at the Caulfield Guineas if you win it but if you don't win it and you have put all your eggs in the one basket you feel as though you have fired a shot in the air.

"We won the Nissan Stakes and then the Henry Bucks which had a $100,000 bonus attached to it as he was an Inglis yearling, and did not run him in the Guineas Prelude.

"Now he is going into a Group Two worth $200,000 and, without sounding cocky, he looks the one to beat."