Racing
King’s horse kicks off campaign at Caulfield
The campaign towards a potential Melbourne Cup start for Gilded Water kicks off at Caulfield.
The Ciaron Maher stable has some high hopes for Gilded Water, but first the imported galloper has to take some baby steps.
Owned by His Majesty The King, Gilded Water is on a potential path to the Melbourne Cup, but first he needs to build his rating to get into better races as part of his Cups lead-up.
Part of that program is his kick-off point on Saturday when Gilded Water runs in the Sportsbet Get On Now Handicap (1800m).
Gilded Water is a half-brother to Sydney Cup winner Circle Of Fire who is also prepared by Maher.
Saturday's outing will be Gilded Water's fourth in Australia following wins at Kembla Grange and Randwick late last year and a second placing at Rosehill in January.
Jack Turnbull, Maher's National Assistant Trainer, said Gilded Water had been gelded since his first campaign in Australia, adding it was a privilege to train for His Majesty.
"He's got reasonably good speed for a horse that is going to stay," Turnbull said.
"At his last start of his last preparation, Ciaron was thinking of putting a norton (bit) on him when he was a colt. He's since been gelded which showed how he used to travel, which was too forward.
"He's had a very long build-up to this point, so we don't think he's going to lack fitness, but it's more how he steps and races.
"He's been with Julien (Welsh) as he has been one of those project horses, but at this point in time he's in good shape."
Turnbull said Gilded Water's program towards the Cups, he already holds a Caulfield Cup nomination while Melbourne Cup nominations close on Tuesday, will be dictated by how the stayer performs on Saturday.
"He's got such a low handicap rating that we'll have to go through the benchmark races and hopefully plot a path to something a bit loftier and get him qualified in the two or three starts," Turnbull said.
"But it's a nice race to kick off with him with his handicap. A win on Saturday would be good to get his rating up, but there are plenty of races for him to run in and then there are the qualifying races.
"The Cup is our ambition this year, but he is still a young horse, so it's not alarm bells if it doesn't work out as we've got the autumn and next spring."
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