Interlocuter, Sanctioned look for Stakes breakthroughs at Rosehill
The ultra-consistent Interlocuter will attempt to add a Stakes victory to his already impressive Australian record when he runs in Saturday’s G2 Ajax Stakes at Rosehill.
Trainer James Cummings will use the race as a guide to the level the former French-trained performer might reach, with a major autumn Stakes event a possibility.
Interlocuter has won five and been placed in three of his nine Australian runs and resumed last start with a typically honest effort to finish just behind the placegetters in the G3 Liverpool City Cup.
“The 1,500m here will suit him better than the 1,300m last start, but this is one of the strongest Ajax Stakes in many years,” Cummings said.
“The horse is great, we were impressed with him in training on Tuesday morning and he appears to have tightened up nicely.”
The stable’s Rosehill Stakes line-up is completed by Sanctioned in the G2 Phar Lap Stakes and Cummings will be looking for some positive signs for the future.
“He needs to improve on his last start when he badly needed the run,” he said
“But back to set weights and back to his own age, he’ll be better suited.”
In Melbourne the prospects are brighter for the irrepressible Nozomi who follows his winning first-up effort of two weeks ago with an appearance in the Listed My Kitchen Rules Stakes at Flemington.
A G1 Victoria Derby placegetter at three and a horse whose career has been curtailed by injury, Nozomi (Anthony Freedman/Jye McNeil) has shown himself more than capable of figuring at Stakes level and again deserves a place among the chances here.
