Queen Elizabeth's Carlton House showed a strong turn of foot in his barrier trial win over stablemate Fiorente at Royal Randwick on Friday morning. Gai Waterhouse's two high-profile imports trialled over 1400m on the course proper in preparation for their spring campaigns and it was Carlton House who stole the limelight today.
A fortnight ago it was Fiorente who appeared to have the upper hand, coming from last to round up his rivals with an impressive turn of foot.
Again Fiorente was slow to begin from the barriers and settled at the rear of the field, while Carlton House, ridden by Thomas Huet, parked just in behind the speed and worked to the line nicely when clear in the straight to win the trial.
Tim Clark, riding Fiorente with Nash Rawiller in Darwin, said the Melbourne Cup runner-up felt a little dour in the trial and was now looking for further.
"He didn't have the same zip as he had when he trialled a fortnight ago but that was to be expected given this was his third decent hit-out in the space of two weeks."
While Waterhouse will be impressed with the condition of Carlton House and Fiorente, expensive purchase Michelangelo once again failed to show any glimpse of his European form.
Michelangelo finished last in the seven horse trial, dropping out sharply over the final 200m as jockey Tommy Berry tried to urge him along with the whip.
Berry was not too critical of the performance, hinting he may not be handling the rain affected tracks in Sydney at present.
"I think you will find his form in England was on really dry tracks," he said. (www.racingnetwork.com.au)