Written by Darcy Cosgriff for racing.com
Tom Dabernig will look to take Picaroon back to town in the coming weeks, as the daughter of Fiorente continues to flourish over the staying trips.
Dabernig, who has registered an incredible 14 winners from his past 50 runners, started training the Fiorente mare early last year, and she scored at just her fourth run for the yard in Benchmark 70 level.
Image Courtesy of Racing Photos
The next start was even better, as Picaroon claimed the 1600-metre $500,000 MCC Country Cup Final at Flemington under a brave Blake Shinn ride.
But this time in, she seems to be tapping into her sire’s breeding, relishing the step-up to 2000 metres to win both the Casterton and Apsley Cups comfortably.
“She’s undefeated over 2000m, just with her rating (83) and without many country cups coming up, we’ll probably look to go to Caulfield,” he said.
“There’s an open 2000m race, and a Benchmark 78, but I think she’ll be given too much weight … that’s in a couple of weeks, so we’ll nominate her for both.
“If she goes well there, we might look to step her up to a mile and a half. She’s a Fiorente, and they all seem to excel over a trip.
“She’s in good shape, so we’ll just keep spacing her runs. Hopefully we can get her through the winter and have her nice and fit for the early new season.”
Although her recent Cup triumphs have her firmly in contention for a second tilt at the Country Cups final, Picaroon’s recent appreciation of longer trips could see a different avenue pursued once the spring rolls around.
With his galloper sixth on the Country Cups leaderboard, the date has naturally been circled on the calendar, but Dabernig won’t be running her just for the fun of it.
“It’s possible … it’s just whether I can keep her going and in-form for that long, and there’s the drop back to 1600m as well,” he said.
“We’d have to get things exactly right, but we’ll see how it all pans out.”