KEY POINTS:
Melbourne Cup placegetter Xcellent has finished second in a trial as he prepares for just his second race in two years.
Xcellent was second over 1000m in a Waikato trial at Te Aroha on Thursday and is due to resume racing at Ellerslie on December 1.
The race is the group three $77,000 Great Northern Stakes (1600m) in which he will be weighted with just 55kg under the special conditions of the race.
He is then scheduled to return to Ellerslie for the group one $200,000 weight-for-age Zabeel Classic (2000m) on December 26.
Waikato trainer Paul Moroney said Xcellent was very big in condition and the horse would have a gallop between races at a Matamata meeting on November 22.
The Pentire six-year-old gelding was third to Makybe Diva in the 2005 Melbourne Cup and his only start since was in the A$1 million Stradroke Handicap (1600m) in Brisbane on June 9. He was 18th of 20 runners.
Xcellent was originally sidelined from racing with tendon injuries and was preparing for racing this spring until he developed a muscular problem in a shoulder.
* The Counties Racing Club's Cup meeting on November 24 has been transferred to Ellerslie.
The Counties Racing Club board, together with New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing, decided to transfer the premier meeting after concerns about the inconsistency of the Pukekohe track.
"It was agreed by all parties that rather than risk racing on an inconsistent track, the sensible option is to transfer our meeting," said Counties chief executive Greg Mitchell.
- NZPA
