Robbie Laing has Group 1 aspirations for Lord Of The Sky, dominant winner of Saturday’s Sir John Monash Stakes at Caulfield.
Laing nominated the Group 1 Memsie Stakes (1400 m) at Caulfield on August 30 as a target for Lord Of The Sky, which has now won five of his six starts at Caulfield.
He said the next race for Lord Of The Sky would be the Group 3 Bletchingly Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield on July 26.
Laing admitted he had lingering doubts about Lord Of The Sky given he’d failed at 1100 metres previously and the consensus among the jockeys was that the track was heavy.
“I must apologise to the horse. I doubt him all the time but he was very good,” Laing said.
“We’ll just space his runs. He’s a very good horse and he can improve.”
Laing noted that studs are already looking at this son of Danerich simply because of his “blistering speed”.
“If he wins the Bletchingly, I’d love to run him in the Memsie,” Laing said.
Asked if he had any doubt about Lord Of The Sky stretching out to 1400 metres, Laing replied: “None at all. He’s not a little, nuggety fireball. He’s a pretty rangy horse and when he travels he’s magnificent.”
Lord Of The Sky, backed from $2.80 to $2.70 favourite, presented Dwayne Dunn not a moments concern as he pinged straight to the front.
Dunn rated him to perfection and the colt ran out an effortless four and half-length winner from Le Bonsir, $5.50, with three-quarters of a length to Riziz, $5, third.
“He stepped so cleanly and was able to dictate from the front,” Dunn said.
“He’s still a kid, he’s still got plenty of upside. Realistically, you would not run into a field like that through the spring.
“But, he’s been placed really well and he’s been given a chance to win those races without too much pressure." (Racing Network)