Torranzino is back in work and shaping for a light autumn campaign, with the Tancred Stakes emerging as a potential target for the progressive stayer. The Tarzino gelding returned to Paul Preusker’s Horsham base on Monday, marking around two months since his strong fifth in the $10 million Group 1 Melbourne Cup (3200m).
Preusker rewarded the six-year-old with a good break after a career-best preparation and initially contemplated a quiet conditioning prep with no races before spring, but the horse has thrived during his time away.
“He’ll start work Monday and then we’ll just sort of plot away,” Preusker said at the weekend.
“I was happy to just put a prep together and go nowhere and spell again, but he hasn’t lost much.
“He’s in a good paddock with a couple of mates, so I think he’ll come up alright, and I suppose it’s now just a matter of whether we poke away in Sydney for a little bit.”
While a return to the two miles of the Sydney Cup looks unlikely, a race like the Tancred Stakes appeals as a suitable stepping stone before attention shifts back to next year’s Melbourne Cup.
“I’ll probably leave that alone and maybe a Tancred or something like that, just a light staying race, and we’ll see what we can do.”
The weight-for-age Tancred Stakes (2400m) will be run at Rosehill on March 28.
Torranzino confirmed himself among the spring’s most improved stayers last campaign, following his Melbourne Cup top-five finish with wins and placings in the Geelong Cup (2400m) and The Bart Cummings (2500m).
The gelding has six wins and nine placings from 34 starts, with his owners still buzzing from the thrill of contesting Australia’s greatest race.
“They’re all up and about, they’re a great mob of owners – most local people, although there’s a few scattered around – but they were just appreciative to get there and whatever happens is a bonus now.”