Angel Capital was back at Caulfield on Tuesday morning, stretching out with a casual gallop on the course proper as he builds toward Saturday’s Group 1 C.F. Orr Stakes (1400m), a race that could define his career.
The $1 million feature, now held in the spring as Melbourne’s final Group 1 of the year, isn’t just a rich target — it’s a potential stallion-maker. Yet for trainer Chris Waller, the trip to Caulfield wasn’t about conditioning.
“Just to keep him ticking over – he’s a colt, so keep him interested,” Waller told racing.com at the Tuesday morning gallop.
“To get him back to Caulfield, which he has been to before, and get him on a Soft track and his better form is on Good tracks, so just getting used to the environment as it’s a big day for him and he’s ticking every box.”
“He’s ticking over nicely. He had a trial last Wednesday in Sydney then traveled down Thursday. He’s very fit. He ran in The Everest a few weeks back and, as I said, the trial, so he’s as fit as we can get him – we don’t want to get him any fitter – we just want to keep him sharp.”
“Ben Melham was aboard and he rides him on Saturday and he knows the horse better than I do and he said he feels great. He’s nice and relaxed so 1400 metres, he’s ready for it.”
“Obviously, it’s going to be a great race. I thought it might be a bit weaker. I thought we’d picked out an easy one but it’s great to see Jimmysstar there and a few others so it will be a good contest.”
Angel Capital is a winner of five of his 10 starts but has a mixed record in four runs at Caulfield.
Waller said he felt Angel Capital could have finished even closer than the two-length sixth in the $20 million The Everest (1200m) at his most recent start.
“I would have liked to see them go a little bit quicker and really put it to Ka Ying Rising and that would have really set it up for the backmarkers, but it didn’t quite work out,” Waller said.
“But his sectional times would have been pretty awesome.”
