Aegon ready for Group One task

[Wandering Eyes]

Kiwi galloper Aegon (NZ) (Sacred Falls) will return to Caulfield on Saturday where he will contest the Gr.1 Memsie Stakes (1400m).

The six-year-old gelding put in an eye-catching run for third when first-up in the Gr.2 PB Lawrence Stakes (1400m) earlier this month and trainer Andrew Forsman believes heading back to the Melbourne track this weekend is the next logical step.

The trans-Tasman conditioner had initially earmarked the Gr.2 Feehan Stakes (1600m) at The Valley on Saturday-week as his next assignment but has had a change of heart.

“”I think we have to (run on Saturday,” Forsman told Racing.com.

“We just had to reassess and think if that (Feehan Stakes) was going to set him up well enough for the Turnbull (Gr.1, 2000m) or we thought we’d go 1400, 1400 into the mile (Makybe Diva Stakes) and that might be better preparation.”

“Unfortunately, he is not an Alligator Blood, who again has drawn wide but can work forward and put himself in the race, we can’t.

“”He just doesn’t have that tactical speed, so he will go back (from barrier 13) and will just be reliant on a bit of tempo.

“They went hard in the P.B. Lawrence first-up, which helped, I don’t know if there is going to be the same tempo, but a big field helps for sure.

“But we are realistic second-up it’s a hard race for him.”

The Gr.1 Cox Plate (2040m) remains the ultimate goal, but Forsman said he will wait to see how he comes through his next couple of runs before making any further decisions.

“We don’t even know if he is a true middle-distance horse, so we think we are better to run in races we think we can be competitive in, which will set him up,” Forsman said.

“If the Cox Plate happens after that, it happens.”

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