Racing: Crocetti could skip Tarzino Trophy for Sydney

Crocetti (inside) has options on both sides of the Tasman. Photo / Therese Davis, Race Images

Punters should tread carefully with Crocetti as the first Group 1 race of the thoroughbred season starts to come more sharply into focus.

Because co-trainer Danny Walker admits he already has a Plan B for the superstar that could see him racing in Australia without contesting the Tarzino Trophy at Hastings on September 7.

Crocetti will head to a trial at Taupō tomorrow on what could be a huge pointer to the spring ahead, with exciting 3-year-old Move To Strike and star mare Orchestral also down to run in the three trials to be run before the meeting starts.

The actual race meeting sees the return of many of the country’s elite 3-year-olds, including Karaka Million winner Velocious, so the whole season takes a step up tomorrow.

Crocetti, who won his resumption race at Ruakākā a fortnight ago, is the $2.50 TAB favourite for the Tarzino at Hastings but Walker says while that is the preferred option, he has also made a tentative booking for Crocetti to fly to Sydney the same weekend instead.

“We want to start at Hastings but we won’t on a heavy track,” says Walker, who trains the 4-year-old with Arron Tata.

“We’ve made that very clear and we’re sticking to it, so if Hastings comes up heavy, he’ll fly to Sydney that weekend instead and race the following Saturday.”

If Crocetti is on that flight, his first Sydney target would be the Theo Marks Stakes (1300m) at Rosehill on September 14.

“If we got down that path, then he will stay in Sydney and contest the Silver Eagle and then hopefully the Golden Eagle.”

The Golden Eagle is the A$10 million 4-year-olds race at Rosehill on November 2, with the Rosehill track possibly ideal for a horse such as Crocetti, who naturally likes to race handy, and he is $12 in the pre-noms market for the 1500m feature.

“Sydney is where we want to end up but we want to go through Hastings,” says Walker.

“So if the track is good enough, we’ll go to Hastings first, and if he runs top two there, Sydney is all go.”

Walker’s two sets of plans should act as a warning for punters, as Crocetti is so short in the Tarzino market and he is no good thing to turn up there, let alone win.

Many of those who are also being aimed at the first Group 1 of the season will have the first starts of their campaigns in the Waikato Stud Foxbridge Plate at Te Rapa this Saturday, which is set to draw a high-class even field.

Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.