Chris Waller calls the 1400 metres of the All Aged Stakes the perfect testing ground for Kermadec and Press Statement to prove themselves worthy of Royal Ascot.
Royal engagement: Kermadec will race in the All Aged Stakes on Saturday. Photo: Getty Images
The pair will get to show their speed and stamina in the All Aged and perhaps earn a trip to England later in the year if they can win the final group 1 of the autumn at Randwick on Saturday.
Waller is hopeful of returning to Royal Ascot for the Diamond Jubilee Stakes with one or both of them after preparing Brazen Beau to run second at the meeting last year.
"The 1200 metres at Ascot [of the Diamond Jubilee Stakes] is very tough and you need a 1400m horse here, so you need an All Aged Stakes winner to be a chance in that race," the trainer said.
Advertisement
"They have both done a good job in Australia. They have set themselves a price tag [as a stallion] here and now it will be about trying get their value on the other side of the world.
"Both horses are owned by sporting people that are keen to see them race, hence they took on Winx in the George Ryder."
Kermadec and Press Statement were left in the wake of Waller's mighty mare at Rosehill a month ago, filling the minor money clearly, and look destined to start breeding careers next season.
All Aged favourite Press Statement is owned by a syndicate headed by Vinery Stud and after wins in the JJ Atkins as a two-year-old and Caulfield Guineas in the spring, he is looking for what has become an elusive group 1 in the autumn.
"[A win] would be a nice way to finish his career in Australia," Vinery's Peter Orton said. "What happens after that will be decided after Saturday."
Press Statement's preparation started with a runaway success in the Hobartville Stakes before he found traffic problems as an odds-on favourite in the Randwick Guineas, where he just failed to run down Le Romain.
"It was always the plan, four weeks ago, to run him in this race, and we chose to miss the Doncaster, and to keep the speed in him and we'll look to Royal Ascot," Waller said.
"I'm not one to say he should have won the Randwick Guineas, but you don't get any unluckier than that. He just got held up at the wrong time and it was good ride by Christian Reith [on Le Romain] to win it."
Kermadec, which has won his group 1s in last year's Doncaster and the George Main Stakes at Randwick, is the centre of interest from a couple of studs and owner Neville Morgan knows an All Aged win will help the process of a sale.
The Teofilo four-year-old was placed in the Canterbury Stakes before being 1-1/2 lengths away when runner-up to Winx at Rosehill, but was the first horse beaten in the Doncaster, finishing last.
"Obviously Kermadec is coming off a failure in the Doncaster, I put that down to a tough run on a testing track. There are few wet trackers that did handle it," Waller said.
"It was a very different track. He pulled up with a bit of back pain and we have had that looked at by the physio and it seems to have helped. He has worked very well since and is still sharp."