Recent Theo Marks Stakes winner Encap will again be out to showcase his Golden Eagle credentials when he returns to Rosehill to run in the $1.5 million Alan Brown Stakes.
Gary Portelli is aiming Encap at the $10 million Golden Eagle (1500m) at Rosehill on November 2 and the Warwick Farm-based trainer was thrilled to see the gelding bounce back to winning form last start in the Group 2 Theo Marks (1300m) on September 14.
Encap’s Theo Marks victory – his first win since the Group 3 Ming Dynasty Quality a year earlier – came after the four-year-old had resumed from a spell with an unplaced finish in the Show County Quality a few weeks earlier.
“It answered our questions, has he come back and is he good enough?” Portelli said of the Theo Marks win.
“I think he answered both those questions.”
Portelli has given Encap four weeks between runs ahead of Saturday’s Alan Brown Stakes (1400m) and the trainer can’t fault the way the son of Capitalist has progressed since his last-start victory.
Encap cruised home to finish fourth in a 1207m Warwick Farm barrier trial last Monday as part of his preparation towards Saturday’s race.
“He’s come on stronger than I’ve ever seen him,” Portelli said.
“He’s had a nice quiet trial the other day and he dragged his way down the straight. He’s pulled up well, so he’s going to go there in probably peak condition.”
Encap had been among the early nominations for the Epsom Handicap but Portelli wasn’t keen to head that way, believing the Alan Brown Stakes was the best option for the gelding third-up with a view to progressing to the Golden Eagle after that.
“It was a nice spacing, it’s 1400-metres and it’s $1.5 million,” Portelli said of the Alan Brown Stakes.
“The mile is probably his optimum distance, so I wouldn’t want to go to the mile just yet.
“The 1500-metres of the Golden Eagle is the race I want him peaking again at, so it’s just nice having that spacing into this and then three weeks again (to the Golden Eagle).”
Encap’s two career wins to date have both been at Rosehill, while he has also been runner-up in a Group 1 Golden Rose and Group 2 Hobartville Stakes from seven starts at that course.