Gai Waterhouse quinellaed the Premier's Cup at Rosehill on Saturday and will follow the Glencadam Gold blueprint with emerging stayer Greatwood after he held off stablemate Bonfire by 1 lengths.
Glencadam Gold won the 2012 Premier's Cup before going on to claim The Metropolitan, and Waterhouse said her new star European stayer was in line to do the same, while Bonfire will target the Caulfield Cup.
"They're both exciting horses, wow! These are two outstanding stayers," Waterhouse said. "You notice how Greatwood got into his rhythm and bowled along while the second horse [Bonfire] just got a little bit held up and Tommy [Berry] rode a very dawdling sort of race, he didn't really put the pressure on. I got such a kick out of how they ran."
Berry produced a gem of a ride up front, and after winning The Metropolitan on Glencadam Gold, he knows full well how good Greatwood will have to be to win the 2400-metre group 1.
"He looks like a Metropolitan horse, very much like Glencadam Gold," Berry said. "When I rode him last time I said he had all the makings of a top-line stayer and I think he showed that today. He'll get better and will be going forward."
Waterhouse almost conceded that buying European horses was the only way to be competitive in the big staying races in the spring. "The Europeans ran the first nine in the Melbourne Cup last year so you've got to be in it to win it," she said.
"To find them is Rob [Waterhouse's] department and to knock some shape into them is the lady trainer. Greatwood's very exciting because he can go at any speed. He dawdled today and he just stayed. Tommy said the horse came up to him then straight away wanted to go again. He'll get two miles with his eyes shut."
Tim Clark walked away from the track adamant the weights difference was the reason Bonfire could not reel in his stablemate in the final furlong. "There was four kilos difference in the weights and that was the difference in the end. My horse is a very nice horse on the way up," Clark said.
Favourite He's Your Man ran on well for third, but jockey Hugh Bowman said a firmer track would have helped. "He handled the track but obviously he's going to be better on top of the ground," Bowman said.
Greatwood will contest the Kingston Town Stakes in a fortnight before The Metropolitan, while Bonfire will hope to qualify for the Caulfield Cup by winning the Naturalism Stakes.
"Bonfire is such an exciting horse because he's not fully tapped yet," Waterhouse said. "He still has to get into the Caulfield Cup and he'll go to the Naturalism."
