Regal Zeus set for Eye Liner Stakes as McArdle eyes Group 1 targets
Mornington-based trainer John McArdle is already charting a course for a Group 1 campaign early in the season, with Queensland playing a key role in his plans.
The gelding Regal Zeus is heading to Ipswich for the Listed Eye Liner Stakes (1350m) on Saturday, which is slated as the initial of two potential Queensland starts.
McArdle's ambition is to return to Melbourne early in the new season to challenge for the Group 1 Memsie Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield in late August.
"I'm 99 per cent sure we'll run in the Eye Liner and then the Glasshouse and if everything went according to plan then we would be the fit horse leading into the Memsie," McArdle commented. "That was the plan and the reason for heading up there was because it is a 61-kilo maximum topweight off a 54-kilo minimum, so he wouldn't be getting as badly weighted up there as he would be in Victoria."
Following the Eye Liner Stakes, the Listed Glasshouse Handicap (1400m) at the Sunshine Coast on July 4 is the next likely target, with Regal Zeus assigned 60.5kg for his Ipswich run.
Regal Zeus comes into Saturday's race having participated in only one trial, finishing second over 1200m at Sandown on May 23.
This trial was conducted over the new 1200m course on the Hillside track at Sandown, a distance McArdle felt would provide the gelding with a beneficial hit-out on a suitable grass surface.
"He was probably ready for a half-mile trial, but he had the1200-metre trial, and him being him, he doesn't do anything softly," McArdle remarked. "It was a stronger trial than what we expected, but what it meant was that we didn't have to trial him again."
After a gallop on the course proper before the Mornington meeting last week, the horse was transported north the subsequent day.
"The travel has tightened him up again and he hasn't left an oat since he's been up there. He's his bright usual self."
The Eye Liner Stakes is part of a strong Saturday program at Ipswich, which also includes the Listed Ipswich Cup (2150m) and the Listed Gai Waterhouse Classic (1200m).
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