A second consecutive Aldebaran Park Maori Mile win for Arcee Phoenix has the squaregaiter ready for another tilt at the Yabby Dam Farms Great Southern Star come February 1.
Trainer-driver Chris Svanosio has been happy with the six-year-old’s recovery since Saturday’s Group 1 success.
“He seems to have come through the race pretty well, so we will try to have him there for the Great Southern Star as good as we can,” Svanosio said.
“He was terrific and he sprinted really good.
“He came back from New Zealand in great order and seems really well at the moment.”
Arcee Phoenix joins 2018 Inter Dominion Trotting Championship Grand Final winner, Tornado Valley as the only horses to win the Maori Mile on multiple occasions.
The gelding out of Justa Phoenix had two runs in New Zealand through November, finishing fourth in both the Group 1 Dominion Trot and the Group 1 New Zealand Trotting Free For All.
“We took him over for the Dominion Trot through Cup week, he didn’t have a lot of luck, but I thought he was terrific in both runs,” he said.
“Once he got back his next big target was the Great Southern Star and everything is ticking along nicely towards it.”
Arcee Phoenix was brave without much reward in last year’s edition of the Group 1 classic finishing second in the heat before a valiant fifth in the final.
“Last year I might have raced him twice and then into the Great Southern Star, but you have to have him fit enough, but you also need to have him fresh enough to run a quick mile twice,” Svanosio said.
The Romsey trainer-driver is set to have one more run before the $250,000 event.
“He will probably have one run between now and the Great Southern Star possibly at Ballarat (Jan 18) a fortnight before or the week before at Melton,” he said.
Arcee Phoenix currently sits on the second line of betting with Sportsbet with the 2024 Inter Dominion champion The Locomotive an early favourite, it comes after last year’s victor and French-import Callmethebreeze was ruled out of a title defence sighting feet issues.
