Goldrush Guru gearing up for the Australian Derby

The Group 1 Victoria Derby (2500m) winner Goldrush Guru could be seen in three different states over the Autumn, with South Australian based trainer Andrew Gluyas keeping his options open in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney.

Goldrush Guru has been back in work and could be seen in the Group 3 C S Hayes Stakes (1400m) at Flemington on February 15, if not earlier.

“We’re happy with him, he’s had a couple of gallops and he’s come up quite well to our eyes, so we’re quite happy with where he’s at,” Gluyas said.

“The future’s bright, he’s had eight starts and a Group One winner, so it sets you up for an exciting career. We’re sort of setting right up to run a nice mile at Flemington on Australian Guineas Day.”

“We’ll probably run in the C S Hayes at 1400 (metres) the fortnight before that and then we’ll just work out how we start him up, whether there’s an option in Adelaide, sort of late January, or whether we’ll just come through track galloping, we’ve just got to work that out, we’ve just got to let him steer us there.”

“So it’s the first week of March, with the view of just assessing him on that day and more than likely have a crack at Sydney.”

With the Group 1 Australian Derby (2400m) on April 5 and the South Australian equivalent a month later on May 3, we could see a busy Autumn for Goldrush Guru, but Gluyas has taken experience from Derby campaigns past.

Gluyas formerly trained in partnership with Leon Macdonald and the duo prepared Rebel Raider to win the 2008 Victoria Derby, returning in the Autumn to win the Group 1 South Australian Derby (2500m), having also run in the Randwick and Rosehill Guineas in Sydney.

“We’ll see what happens early March, that (two derbies) will be a test. We tried that back in the day with Rebel Raider and he just didn’t go the other way, like he failed the Sydney way so we aborted that mission, brought him back and then he came and our Chairman’s and then our Derby. So that was a sort of failed mission that turned good, so I suppose you’ve got to be a bit flexible,” Gluyas said.

“But the guys that owned it had a bit of luck with Gold Guru in the ’98 season, so perhaps there’s a bit of sentiment there.”