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Last year’s Gr. 1 Manco Easter Handicap winner Albany Reunion will do his future racing in Singapore.
The five-year-old gelding hasn’t been seen on raceday since finishing fifth in the Gr. 2 Coupland’s Bakeries Mile back in November after a virus halted plans for an attempt at the Gr.1 Emirates Stakes during the Melbourne Spring Carnival.
The son of Fastnet Rock was then sent to the spelling paddock while co-owners Eric Watson and Tim Connell discussed his future racing options.“We were confident he could go a bold race if he got to the Emirates Stakes but the virus he contracted meant we had to shelve those plans,” explained Westbury Stud’s Russell Warwick on behalf of the gelding’s owners.
“We managed to get him to the Coupland’s Mile but he clearly wasn’t up to his best on the day and may have still been troubled by the after effects of the virus.“He then went to the paddock to have a break while we thought about what was best for the horse and the decision has been taken to send him to Singapore.”
Warwick admitted a number of factors were taken into consideration during the decision making process including the gelding’s place at the top of the handicap scale in New Zealand.“He won the Easter off a light weight but that shot his rating up to the point where he will now carry 58-59kgs every time he races,” he said.
“He is a Group One winner so probably deserves his rating but the opportunities are so limited here for a horse in his position that we had to look at what was available to him offshore.“In Singapore he can run in races where he will be well handicapped and for prize-money that is far in excess of what is available here locally. There are any number of good races over 1400-1800 metres, for $200,000 or more, so there is an obvious appeal in that.”
Currently in pre-training with Pukekohe based conditioner Annabelle Johnson, Albany Reunion will depart for Singapore in mid-March where he will join the Shane Baertschiger stable. After an acclimatisation period Warwick expects the gelding will be back on the track around June this year.