Racing: Spell for Larry's Never Late

MELBOURNE - Recent Sandown Stakes winner Larry's Never Late will not race again before the autumn when his target will be The BMW in Sydney.

The 5-year-old made a cameo appearance in the spring when he won the group three Zaidee's Rainbow Foundation Stakes (1500m) first up on November 13.

Trainer Jim Conlan said the Sandown race was only targeted after a setback prevented the Pentire gelding from lining up in the Emirate Stakes (1600m) at Flemington.

"We will back off him now and get him ready for Sydney," Conlan said.

He said the likelihood of rain-affected tracks in Sydney would be in his favour.

"They get soft tracks as a rule up there in the autumn and he is a horse who definitely needs the sting out of the ground," Conlan said on Saturday.

"He's a good horse and he showed a bit of ticker against a pretty good field the way he hit the line at Sandown."

Conlan has mapped out three Sydney races for Larry's Never Late with a first-up run over 1600m taking him in to a 2000m quality handicap before The BMW (2400m) on April 2.

- AAP