A three-year-old hasn’t taken out the Canterbury Stakes in ten years, though co-trainer Tom Charlton feels Napoleonic is primed during his preparation to snap that sequence.
The previous success story from that age division against elder sprinters was Holler in 2016, trained by Charlton’s partner John O’Shea.
Those two both took the Red Anchor Stakes (1200m) at Flemington the previous spring, arriving at this Group 1 after a 1400m effort, an element Charlton deems crucial for Napoleonic Saturday.
“That should leave him in good stead this weekend,” Charlton said.
“He’s got good form, he comes into this third-up and, we feel, ready to run the best race of his preparation, which should put him right among the chances.”
For Napoleonic, March 7 was long anticipated, with his second in the Hobartville Stakes (1400m) locking in his feature.
Though the Randwick Guineas (1600m) lingered as a possibility for O’Shea and Charlton, the 1300m proved more suitable.
“We always had this race day as a plan, and we were just going to work out whether it was Randwick Guineas or Canterbury Stakes,” Charlton said.
“His last run was excellent, but we concluded the best option would be coming back to the 1300, rather than try to stretch him to a Randwick mile.”
The Canterbury Stakes (1300m) lacks recent three-year-old triumphs, but Napoleonic runs alongside age-peers Beiwacht and Nepotism.
He bolsters O’Shea and Charlton’s lineup, joined by 2024 Randwick Guineas hero Linebacker and The Ingham scorer Yorkshire on return.
Doncaster Mile is their mutual goal, Yorkshire rebounding from a small knock that bypassed last weekend’s Liverpool City Cup, as Linebacker’s plan has centred on this race.
Juvenile Scintillation bypasses Randwick after barrier woes in the Reisling Stakes (1200m).
Charlton indicated she’ll contest the Group 3 Ottawa Stakes (1000m) at Flemington concurrently.
“She’s going to run in Melbourne. Just the draw was a bit tricky in Sydney on Saturday.
“She did a good job on debut. She’s a nice, racy filly and hopefully we can get some black type.
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