Tough draw awaits Mr Waterville in Lord Reims Stakes at Morphettville
Clayton Douglas, the trainer, plans to proceed to Adelaide regardless of the challenging gate position drawn by recent stablemate Mr Waterville.
This Irish import, who Chris Waller handled during his initial Australian tenure, targets the Group 3 Lord Reims Stakes (2600m) scheduled at Morphettville on Saturday.
The trainer regards this weekend's contest as the concluding workout before the Group 2 Adelaide Cup (3200m) over the same track on March 9.
The gelding Mr Waterville pulled the widest barrier among Saturday's entrants, with Douglas emphasising the necessity of this race in readying him for the Adelaide Cup.
"Drawing 19 is not ideal but he'll be in the middle to back-half of the field anyway and the 2600 (metres) should be ideal," Douglas said.
"It's a stepping stone to hopefully starting in the Adelaide Cup and he needs this grounding run to head there.
"The set-weights and penalties on Saturday makes it a suitable race."
According to Douglas, the sole other appropriate option for the gelding's prep towards the Adelaide Cup was the 2500m race Berkeley Square took out at Flemington last weekend, as opposed to the Listed Torney Cup (2500m) coming up at Pakenham merely three days before.
Mr Waterville's first effort for Douglas resulted in a late-charging third placing in the Colac Cup (2000m) held on February 6.
The gelding kicked off his career in Ireland with Aidan O'Brien, securing two triumphs in seven outings, before going without a victory across 20 races with Waller, who maintains ownership interest.
It was Waller who advised relocating the gelding, and courtesy of Rod Lyons – part-owner of Nature Strip – he arrived at Douglas's base.
"He's done some schooling down here and that seems to have helped," Douglas said.
"Maybe if he doesn't perform well in his next couple of flat runs, we might see him in a maiden hurdle at Warrnambool during the carnival."
An entry persists for Mr Waterville in the Group 1 Sydney Cup (3200m) set for Randwick on April 11.
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