Cummings pins hopes on Trekking for AJ Moir Stakes

Sharjah: A sparkling workout by Trekking at Moonee Valley on Monday has offered hope of a positive return to racing when he runs in Friday night’s G1 AJ Moir Stakes at the same track.

Trekking, a last-start winner of the G1 Stradbroke Handicap, meets a field of the quality expected for the world’s richest 1,000m race, and trainer James Cummings is satisfied his horse is far from out of place among them.

He also has the distinction of being the first of three strong Godolphin G1 prospects for the weekend, along with Bivouac in the Golden Rose at Rosehill and Hartnell in the Underwood Stakes at Caulfield.

“He’s going beautifully and flew in a gallop at Moonee Valley on Monday, I only hope he didn’t work too well,” Cummings said.

“But he’s pulled up well and we’re really looking forward to it.”

“The Moir is shaping as a genuine, high-pressure race. It looks like being a race where only the toughest of sprinters will prevail.

“But Trekking is a G1 winner at his last start, he’s the winner of eight races and he’s trialled very nicely ahead of this.”

Trekking is joined in the Moir by Viridine, who like his stablemate had his last outing in the Stradbroke in June and had a Monday-morning rehearsal at the Valley.

“He went very sweetly at the Valley on Monday, he’s strong and he looks fantastic,” Cummings said.

Opposing the pair are the likes of dual G1 winners Sunlight and The Bostonian, along with the rising star Assertive Approach and the veteran speedster Nature Strip.

Cummings examined several weekend possibilities, including the Moir Stakes, for his star filly Exhilarates before settling in the G3 Scarborough Stakes at Moonee Valley.

The trainer said he was influenced largely by a desire to allow her more time to mature before confronting her with the supreme test.

“Although she’s very experienced she’s still a young-looking spring three-year-old,” Cummings said.

“She has a precocious record and she has shown in her races that she’s quite robust, but she’s quite feminine in her appearance.”

“So I decided she wasn’t ready to mix it with the older horses in the Moir and we also decided against the 1,400m in the Thousand Guineas Prelude on Sunday.”

Exhilarates has seized a lofty position among Australia’s three-year-old fillies winning her only two starts this time in having won the rich Magic Millions as a juvenile.

Her opposition on Friday night includes the well-credentialled Loving Gaby and the emerging pair Charleise and Backpedal.