Multiple interstate Group 1s on radar for Baker pair

Sydney trainer Bjorn Baker will send Pericles to Melbourne for Saturday’s Group 1 Orr Stakes (1400m) at Sandown, while Overpass is set to travel to Perth on Monday for another campaign in the west.

Baker scratched Pericles from Saturday’s $1 million The Hunter (1300m) at Newcastle on Thursday morning, opting instead to target the $1 million Group 1 feature.

‘’I think he’s in great order. He looks absolutely fantastic and it’s just his fourth run this preparation,” Baker told Racing.com.

‘’I think he’s going as well as ever and I think his best trip is around the 1400 metres. He hasn’t raced at Sandown since I’ve had him, but I think he won the Autumn Stakes there as a three-year-old so that’s a good thing.

‘’It’s a hard race and you have to respect your opponents, but I think he goes in as a live chance.’’

Pericles will bypass a proposed Perth trip, with Baker instead considering an autumn campaign similar to last year, when the horse won the Futurity Stakes first-up.

Overpass will head west after winning a Warwick Farm trial by five lengths on Thursday, with the Group 1 Winterbottom Stakes (1200m) and potentially the Gold Rush among his targets.