Vauban, a former hurdler, displayed an impressive turn of foot in his season return, boosting his stable’s confidence as he gears up for a more suitable challenge at Rosehill.
Previously based in Europe, Vauban had never contested a race under 2200m but demonstrated versatility when storming home to win the Sky High Stakes (2000m) for his new trainers, Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott.
On Saturday, he tackles the 2400m distance in the $1.5 million Tancred Stakes, and Bott believes multiple factors favor the talented stayer.
“He’s going to be better suited up to 2400 metres and it’s a bigger field than what we saw in the Sky High Stakes, so you’d naturally expect pressure in that sort of set-up,” Bott said.
“There is also potential rain on the day.
“There are a lot of things that would seem a positive for him going into the race.”
The track at Rosehill was rated a soft 5 on Thursday, but forecasts from the Bureau of Meteorology suggest between 15mm and 60mm of rain could fall on race day.
A wet track shouldn’t trouble Vauban, who has proven himself in rain-affected conditions with six wins and four placings from 12 starts. The event, however, features strong opposition, including international stayer Dubai Honour and defending Tancred Stakes champion Arapaho.
“There is nowhere to hide on Saturday,” Bott said.
“He’s done really well in between runs and seems fantastic within himself. Hopefully there is some nice improvement to come.”
The stable also has high hopes for three-year-old Format, who lines up in the Tulloch Stakes (2000m).
A son of Frankel out of Group 1-winning mare Nechita, Format impressed with a dominant 4-1/2 length victory at Kembla Grange last start. However, he faces a 400m drop in distance for this event.
“That is probably the difficult thing for him, coming back to the 2000 metres on Saturday,” Bott said.
“That’s going to be the only query, but he is obviously on a Derby path.”
The Tulloch Stakes has historically been a strong lead-up to the Australian Derby, with nine horses completing the double in the past 40 years, most recently Quick Thinker in 2020.
