Brae Sokolski has sent an ominous warning to rivals of Melbourne Cup winner Verry Elleegant, both local and international.
Crowned last season’s Australian Racehorse of the Year, even before her dominant Melbourne Cup performance, the six-year-old returned to pre-training last month and has done nothing but impress trainer Chris Waller.
“I’ve never heard Chris more buoyant about her and where she’s at,” Sokolski said.
“She’s put on amazing amount of condition even though she only had a short spell.
“She just keeps getting better every single time she comes back in, she seems bigger and stronger than the previous preparation even now as an autumn six-year-old.
“We still feel like the best is in front of her, which is frightening for the opposition, for every other weight-for-age horse in this country and hopefully frightening opposition for the Europeans.”
While the immediate focus will be on a first Queen Elizabeth Stakes, after finishing second to Addeybb the past two years, the intent remains to travel for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in Paris on October 2.
“I felt like that we might have missed our opportunity through COVID and other reasons and that was maybe our last chance to showcase her on the world stage,” Sokolski admitted.
“But after what she did in the Melbourne Cup, our sense is she may well be in her prime now.
“(Europe) it’s absolutely on the agenda.
“Everything following the Queen Elizabeth is going to be about getting her to the Arc in the best possible condition.”
An international assault might also feature more than one overseas start.
“We will not take her to Europe unless we are convinced she’s in her prime, we have to do her justice,” Sokolski said.
“I think you’ll find she won’t just have one run, we’re looking at potentially a two or three-run campaign.
“We don’t want to go first-up into an Arc, she’s never raced first-up at any distance beyond 1400 metres, while we’re not going to run her over 1400 metres in Europe, but look to program I’d say one or two runs prior to the Arc.”
The 10-time Group One winner was among Monday’s 77 All-Star Mile nominations but Sokolski said it is doubtful the mare will return to Flemington in the autumn.
“It’s an insurance policy,” he explained. “While it’s smart enough to always keep your options open but something dramatic would have to happen for us to change tack and run her in that race.
“Her program will be solely Sydney and exactly what she’s done in the previous two autumns.
“Go through the Apollo, George Main, likely the Ranvet and the Queen Elizabeth.
“The only small question mark is would we have a crack at the Tancred?”
