Trainer Edward Cummings has provided an exciting update on star mare Duais.
Having won three Group 1 races in the autumn - with stunning displays in both the Australian Cup and the Tancred Stakes - the five-year-old/ is eyeing off the riches of the Sydney and Melbourne Spring Carnival.
After a long winter spell, Cummings is pleased with how the horse is progressing.
“She looks good, she’s come up pretty nicely this prep,” Cummings told 'The Mounting Yard’ with Cam Luke.
“We’ve done a little bit more work with her I suppose… I don’t think she’ll lack fitness; we know she got plenty of class on her side.
“We trained her at Deagon before she won the Queensland Oaks… we gave her a decent hit out.
“I’ve got to say, I reckon I saw that even then, before she won her first group one, how well she is able to rail on a tight turning track.
“I think we’ve known for a little while that she is very versatile, she’s good on wet and dry and relaxes really well.”
With the Melbourne Cup her obvious goal, Cummings has outlined the lead-up race they'll be aiming.
“I like her chances at Flemington better than any other track,” he said.
“She’s the sort of horse that I think just appreciates being given plenty of time to balance up and pick her pass and peel off and make a run.
“She’s also going to be most effective over ground, 2000m plus.
“I would probably put down the Turnbull and the Melbourne Cup as the two big races for her.
“As she proved in the Autumn, with the right preparation… she’s capable of winning at distances short of her best.”
When Duais does make her way to Victoria, Cummings believes the Turnbull Stakes will be her first-up target in Melbourne.
“That’ll be the first possible run which she’ll have in Melbourne, if we decide to change for any reason then we possibly go a week later into the Caulfield stakes over two thousand,” he added.
“At this stage, it’ll be George Main after the Winx Stakes, then it’ll be the Turnbull thereafter.”
The daughter of Shamus Award is the current joint-favourite ($15) for the Melbourne Cup