Chris Waller has opted for fitness over freshness as he plots the perfect preparation for Beiwacht’s shot at a Golden double.
The multiple Group 1 winner has returned to Sydney after finishing out of the placings in the Manikato Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield on September 27 and will take his place in Saturday’s Silver Eagle (1300m) at Randwick.
While Waller and owners Godolphin weighed up the merits of sending him straight to the Golden Eagle (1500m) on October 31, in the end it was determined Beiwacht would be better served by another run.
“The Golden Eagle is his target race, and we thought, do we go into that race fresh, or do we give him a run in between?” Waller explained.
“We went with this race because he’s going to need to be rock-hard fit for the 1500 in two weeks’ time.”
A brilliant winner of last year’s Golden Rose (1400m), Beiwacht is on a spring mission to become the first winner of the three-year-old feature to go on and claim the Golden Eagle (1500m) the following season.
But his immediate goal is at Randwick on Saturday, and he’s expected to take some beating as a $3.20 second elect behind the Gerald Ryan and Sterling Alexiou-trained Skyhook ($2.70), who will be striving to extend his winning sequence to four.
However, it is far from a two-horse race with the Silver Eagle attracting a deep field that also includes Attica, Apocalyptic and promising trio Decorum, Night Agent and Plaintiff.
“Skyhook is a damn good horse. It won’t be an easy run, and there are a few others in it too,” Waller said.
“It just shows how these pop-up races can really develop into something. The Silver Eagle worth $1 million is massive and obviously it targets (horses going) into the Golden Eagle. Like the Five Diamonds Prelude next week is worth $1 million and that goes into a $2 million race for five-year-olds.
“It really is a big thing for the participants, and if we get behind it and build these fields as we are, it will just continue to grow.”
Beiwacht and Skyhook are both high in Golden Eagle markets at $6 and $8 respectively with Sheza Alibi a slightly easy $1.80 favourite.
