Derby options for Soldier Field will become clearer after his next couple of starts.
The promising three-year-old is considered a genuine staying prospect by his trainer and part-owner Finbarr Leahy, who will head south with the Rip Van Winkle gelding for today's Taranaki meeting.
Soldier Field will step out in the Pukekura Motor Lodge Maiden, in which he will be ridden by Samantha Collett. "There's still a chance he could head to the Avondale Guineas, he's a horse that really wants 2000 metres now and he will continue to improve.
"He's just waiting for a mile and a half and if he doesn't get to the New Zealand Derby, we're harbouring thoughts of the Queensland Derby."
Soldier Field placed in two of his first three starts before he tailed the field home in the Karaka Mile, although he wasn't disgraced in finishing less than six and a half lengths off the winner Volpe Veloce.
