Peter Moody will let Desert Lightning’s (NZ) (Pride of Dubai) performance in the Underwood Stakes at Caulfield dictate what direction he will head with the last-start winner of the So You Think Stakes.
Moody said he was testing the waters to see whether Desert Lightning could run out a strong 1800m at G1 level, which is why it was such an important run, in terms of his spring plans.
Desert Lightning is nominated for the Caulfield Cup and the Cox Plate, but the co-trainer won’t buy into any discussions as to whether he’s a contender for those races until he sees him compete at Caulfield on Saturday.
“That’s pie in the sky stuff. We will get Saturday behind us and take it from there,” Moody said.
“This will be decisive for the rest of his campaign as we can see whether he runs out a strong 1800m. He’s in good form and good order. We will learn something from it, one way or the other.”
The six-year-old gelding by Pride Of Dubai has had two starts this spring for a second in the PB Lawrence Stakes to Private Eye, and then his last-start win at The Valley over Moira with Luke Nolen aboard.
Early in his career, when he was trained in New Zealand by Peter and Dawn Willilams, he was tested over longer journeys as a three-year-old with some success.
He won the G2 Avondale Guineas over 1800m, finished second in the G3 Manawatu Classic over 2000m and eighth in the 2400m G1 New Zerby.
He hasn’t raced at over 1600m in his subsequent 15 starts over the past two seasons which include nine with Moody and Katherine Coleman.
