Mornington trainer Rob Blacker says his stayer Tigertiger will be ready to run on Melbourne Cup Day.
Options are the Group 1 Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington on November 1 or the other stayers’ race, The Macca’s Run, a Benchmark 96 race over 2800m.
Tigertiger starts his Cup campaign this weekend with Blacker entering the seven-year-old for the Benalla Cup (2046m) on Friday, the Group 3 JRA Cup (2040m) at Moonee Valley on Friday night and the Listed RM Ansett Classic (2400m) at Mornington on Saturday.
Blacker is favouring one of the latter options, one where the track is not too wet and the easier race.
Tigertiger has not raced since finishing last on a very heavy track in the Sydney Cup in April.
He had a long campaign, extending seven months, going from a maiden win to success at Listed grade in the Bagot Handicap (2800m) at Flemington, then running second in the Group 2 Adelaide Cup in March.
“Last time in he had a great prep, but his previous prep he didn’t race as we did a lot of work getting him to settle,” Blacker said.
“I’ve tried to have him a little bit sharper because realistically if you want to have a crack at the Cup, he has to find three or four lengths, at least.”
Blacker has mapped a plan to the Cup and has a back-up option should Tigertiger not make the field.
“The plan is Friday night or Saturday, pick the softest option that I can, then the Herbert Power Stakes (at Caulfield) and then to the Geelong Cup or Moonee Valley Cup,” Blacker said.
“He’s first-up on the weekend, but if he happened to win or run a really good race, we may bypass the Herbert Power and go straight to the Moonee Valley or the Geelong Cup.
“But we also have the Sandown Cup, the Bagot, the Adelaide Cup at the back end of all of this if he doesn’t measure up, so the idea of having less runs is to try and have him a bit more explosive.”
Blacker is looking forward to being a competitor over the Melbourne Spring Carnival and has three-year-old Skyphios heading towards the Group 1 Victoria Derby (2500m) on October 29.
Skyphios is entered for the Group 2 Stutt Stakes (1600m) at The Valley on Friday night, but after working at that track on Monday, and having a decent blow post gallop, he is likely to bypass the race.
Blacker is planning to start Skyphios first-up in the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas on October 8 and then head to the Group 2 Vase (2040m) at Moonee Valley two weeks later and onto the Derby.