Staying targets not a priority for Aeliana

[Wandering Eyes]

Trainer Chris Waller will take a cautious approach with star filly Aeliana in the spring as the patient trainer is wary of jumping too quickly to staying distances with the rising four-year-old.

The New Zealand bred daughter of Castelvecchio was a dominant winner of the Gr.1 Australian Derby (2400m) but don’t expect to see the staying journey at the top of spring targets.

“We won’t be in any rush to get her to 2400m unless we have to,” Waller said.

“I just find it tends to send horses a little one-paced. And then all of a sudden, you’re locked in to long-distance races. As older horses, there’s not really that many options.”

“You’ve got the Tancred in Sydney, and you’ve got a Caulfield Cup once a year, but the options shorten up.”

Waller indicated that Aeliana’s spring campaign will focus on middle-distance Group One races as key yardsticks.

“I think a horse like her we will probably use the Turnbull or the Epsom, just to sort of tell us where we should be heading and whether she is a Cox Plate horse or not,” Waller said.

The Gr.1 Turnbull Stakes (2000m) at Flemington and the Gr.1 Epsom Handicap (1600m) at Randwick are both run on October 4, with Waller to monitor which target is better suited as a potential springboard to the Gr.1 Cox Plate (2040m).

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