Soulcombe (GB) made a winning Australian debut in the Group III Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2600m) at Flemington last November, and the son of Frankel was back to that form in Saturday’s Listed Heatherlie Stakes (1700m) at Caulfield.
Ridden by Blake Shinn for Chris Waller, Soulcombe (GB) came with a weaving run to overpower Flash Flood (Night Of Thunder) by three-quarters of a length, with Jimmy The Bear (Jimmy Creed) the same distance back in third.
Soulcombe (GB) advances his record to five wins and a second from 12 starts with earnings of $571,056.
Assistant trainer Charlie Duckworth said the 5-year-old gelding would embark on a path to the Cups.
“We know it’s pretty much a mile short of his best, and he had a terrific turn of foot,” Duckworth enthused.
“He’s been trained out of the Macedon stable, so it gives us a bit of faith in the systems we’ve put in place there.
“We had Waverider Buoy win at Randwick straight out of Maceodon too, so obviously a credit to the team there, and it’s going to be an interesting Spring.”
“We’ll let Chris (Waller) plot a path. If there’s something worth going up to Sydney for, now that we know he’s capable over these shorter distances, it opens up many avenues. If he was just going to be an out-and-out two-miler, then obviously, you’ve got a set path.
“We’ll see how he comes out of it, but the logical thing would be to go to 2000; I’d imagine Caulfield and Melbourne Cups will be in everyone’s interests.
“We were pretty happy with him; he came for a gallop here earlier in the week, and Blake Shinn rode him and said ‘I’m not sure if it was winning work, but he’s moving well and worked pretty nicely’ so we thought he was nice and forward.
“The beauty of Macedon is we can put him out in the paddocks and keep him fresh. I’m not sure whether we will have to spread his runs quite the same. The most important thing for today’s victory is that he was competitive over these shorter journeys because he makes it so hard for himself by missing the start, giving away a head start to his rivals. Still, if he can do that over 1700 I dread to think what he can do at two miles.”
Soulcombe (GB) is the best of three winners from as many to race out of the Manduro mare Ribbons, honoured as the Champion Older Female in Ireland in 2015 (Intermediate). Her seven wins included the Group 1 Deauville Prix Jean Romanet and Group II Curragh Blandford Stakes and was runner-up in the Group 1 Longchamp Prix de l'Opera, and third in the Group 1 Curragh Pretty Polly Stakes.
