While Saturday's race meeting at Caulfield won't have the same impact as the final day of autumn racing in Sydney, it will be a significant stepping stone for Newmarket Handicap winner The Quarterback and the lofty ambitions of his connections to race him at Royal Ascot.
Craig Newitt guides The Quarterback home in the Newmarket Handicap. Photo: Getty Images
The Quarterback, one of Australia's most gifted though sometimes inconsistent sprinters, appears ideally suited in Saturday's VOBIS Gold Stakes - a race conducted under set weights.
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In fact his trainer Robbie Griffiths believes that on paper The Quarterback is superbly placed and could well fall under the category of "a good thing".
"He would, I suppose, be extremely hard to beat if he was a horse who was capable of taking an early position in the race," he said.
"But he doesn't. So by getting back in the field he's very much prone to traffic jams and really Caulfield is not going to be his track.
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"At the weights, and purely at the weights, he will win. But as he showed the other night at Moonee Valley it's not that easy. At Moonee Valley had he not reared and missed the start by six lengths he may have well won. But he didn't and you still need things to go right."
Griffiths, whose first group 1 success came after The Quarterback's brilliant win in the Newmarket, is firm in the belief that the sprinter warrants a trip to Royal Ascot this year.
"It's exciting for us all. It is, after all, England - the home of racing where the very best horses are on display. We'll be thrilled to make the trip," Griffiths said.
Griffiths says he's never been to England, though corrects himself by adding that he was on a plane leaving Heathrow for Ireland in the early 1990s though that was as close as the former jockey got to Ascot.
"I was on my way to Ireland. My brother Rod had a contract to ride over there and I was going
to visit him. But to take The Quarterback to England will be an exciting day," he said.
The Quarterback will have one more start after Saturday' and that will be the group 1 Goodwood Handicap in Adelaide in May just three weeks before the King's Stand Stakes at Ascot.
"And I haven't forgotten that Saturday's race at Caulfield is worth $250,000 - the value of some good group 2 and nearly group 1 races. But Adelaide will be another important stepping stone on his way to England," he said.
Bookmakers have installed The Quarterback at $2.50 favourite for Saturday.