WELLINGTON - New Plymouth trainer John Wheeler is building up for a successful autumn if the weekend's results are any indication.
Wheeler saddled six horses at both Trentham and Waverley over the weekend and ended up with six wins, two seconds, a third and a fourth.
His Trentham wins came with 3-year-olds Precocious and Star Rating and juvenile first starter The Almighty One. Healso won with Famous Spi, St Steven and Judge at Waverley.
Several of those winners are likely to race in Australia over the next few weeks, with Wheeler being represented at the Sydney and Queensland carnivals as well as at Oakbank in South Australia.
Wheeler already has Conference, Zex- zabeel and Midnight Babe in Sydney and they could be joined by Grease and Classify.
St Steven, an impressive hurdle winner yesterday, will spearhead his Oakbank attack, along with Wickerman, fourth on Sunday and Sir Gus, who ran fourth in a flat race at Moonee Valley last week, could also go to Oakbank.
Wheeler has a record second to none at the Oakbank carnival and St Steven, who has won three of his four hurdle races, looks set to keep up his high standards. But the stable's jumping prowess will stretch further afield this week, with Maybe Rough travelling to Japan to tackle next weekend's Nakayama Grand Jump.
Wheeler's Sydney team will also be aiming high with Midnight Babe, who ran fifth at Rosehill on Saturday, and Zexzabeel targeting the $A800,000 Sydney Cup on May 6. Wheeler is still hoping Conference can gain a start in the $A2.5 million Doncaster Handicap on April 22.
Conference will make a last ditch attempt to make the field in the $A100,000 Parramatta Stakes on Saturday.
Wheeler's Queensland team is yet to be decided but he said Precocious and The Almighty One could both be contenders.
"Precocious is a good staying type while The Almighty One has improved a lot and has really strengthened up," he said.
"His owners turned down $40,000 for him at the ready-to-run sale last year but he was a bit immature and very lightly framed then."
- NZPA