Melbourne Cup favourite Circle Of Fire made a low-key start to his spring campaign at the Cranbourne jumpouts on Monday morning.
The Ciaron Maher-trained import finished last in the opening heat of the morning on a heavily rain-affected track with John Allen in the saddle.
“We were really pleased,” said assistant trainer Jack Turnbull.
“First use of the ground over 800m, he was never going to get close to them. It wasn’t about that; it was more about wind and action.
“I thought he showed good endeavour, Johnny was very happy with him post-trial, he was very clean in the wind and recovered very quickly, so his second (jumpout) in a fortnight or so might be over 1200m, we’ll just see how the ground does play but I think we saw what we wanted to do this morning.”
Turnbull said that Circle Of Fire will probably return to the races at the end of August, with the Heatherlie Stakes at Caulfield on August 31 a possible starting point for him.
The son of Almanzor was a comprehensive winner of the G1 Sydney Cup at his most recent run and is now about to embark on his second racing preparation Down Under.
“It’s hard to say if he’s improved, I think physically, he’s better off,” Turnbull said.
“He had a few niggly feet issues when he first came over and his general action has improved. A little bit longer in our system, he’s been up in Sydney, back down to Victoria, where he’s been before.
“He is better off and naturally he should improve again.”
Sportsbet has Circle Of Fire at $11 in its market for the Melbourne Cup.
– racing.com
