Russian Camelot (Image: Racing Photos)
Voting begins this Friday for March’s All-Star Mile and few people will be more interested to see how the early poll shapes than Flemington trainer Danny O’Brien.
O’Brien has the plan of running his star Russian Camelot first-up in the $5 million race before heading to Sydney for possibly just one more run for the campaign in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Randwick.
O’Brien knows he has maybe the best horse in the land in his stables but as to the horse’s popularity with voters, he admits to having little foresight just four days out from the start of voting.
‘’I’ve got absolutely no idea but if he doesn’t get voted in there are wildcards he could get or we might just go straight to Sydney,’’ O’Brien said on Monday.
‘’Plan A is to run at Moonee Valley (All-Star Mile on March 13) but if not, we’ll go straight to Sydney and run in the George Ryder and then into the Queen Elizabeth.’’
Russian Camelot was one of 83 horses nominated for the $5 million feature where the public votes 10 horses into the race while five wildcards are handed out, with two of those going to the winners of the Futurity Stakes a Caulfield and the Blamey Stakes at Flemington.
While Russian Camelot is still a while away from returning, O’Brien has a long list of autumn hopefuls down to jump-out at Geelong on Wednesday including prominent three-year-old fillies Starelle and Salto Angel as well as derby prospect Young Werther and other older stable stars such as Miami Bound.
O’Brien enjoyed a prosperous week on the Gold Coast with Paradee snaring the Magic Millions Open over 1800 metres on the back of a heavy buying schedule at the premier sale.
The stable ended up with 16 yearlings, which ranged from $300,000 for a Zoustar colt to $60,000 for a Churchill colt.
‘’It was a very good catalogue, a very deep catalogue with very few bad horses there,’’ O’Brien said.
‘’We don’t go and tee-off,’’ he said of his buying strategy.
‘’We aim to buy between $50,000 and $250,000. That’s our profile and we’ve had a lot of luck buying in that area too.’’
WATCH - Russian Camelot wins the G1 Underwood Stakes