Pinarello is still well on target for next weekend’s Queensland Derby, despite missing a key lead-up outing before the Group 1 feature.
The Roger James and Robert Wellwood-trained son of Tavistock was due to make his Australian debut in the Group 3 Rough Habit Plate, but mild illness and heavily rain-affected going means he will now have that first outing in Saturday week's Eagle Farm feature, for which he is 11/2.
"He spiked a bit of a temperature earlier last week and that and the track all pointed to the right thing being not to run," Wellwood told Racing.com.
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Bred and raced by Cambridge Stud, Pinarello has shown he is very effective when fresh and was a dominant last-start winner of the Group 2 Championship Stakes last month, a first outing since finishing fifth in the Group 1 New Zealand Derby.
Having been scratched at the barriers in the Group 3 Manawatu Classic due to a tooth issue, the three-year-old came home a convincing two and a half-length winner at Pukekohe.
"He'll head straight to the Derby now and he did go seven weeks between runs before the Championship Stakes and he obviously did win that convincingly," Wellwood said.
"He will go to the Gold Coast this Saturday for an exhibition gallop and that will hopefully have him right for the Derby."
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