Carl Spackler, highly touted as a Cox Plate contender for trainer Chris Maher, will be missing from Yulong’s shipment of northern hemisphere horses for the Australian spring.
Yulong chief operating officer Sam Fairgray says the US Grade 1 winner will remain in the UK where he has been disappointing in two starts.
The most recent of those came in the Group 1 Sussex Stakes at Goodwood last week when the five-year-old son of Lope De Vega finished sixth of seven runners.
“I think we’ll just leave him there, let him acclimatise a bit and see if we can just get him back on track,” Fairgray told RSN.
Carl Spackler was a recent purchase for Zhang Yuesheng’s Yulong Investments before heading to the UK.
Despite Carl Spackler’s spring absence, Yulong will hold a formidable spring hand with defending champion Via Sistina, last season’s outstanding three-year-old filly Treasurethe Moment and North American Grade 1 winners Moira and Full Count Felicia all pointed towards the Cox Plate.
