Untapped Victorian star General Dodge is poised to tackle next Saturday night’s $100,000 Group 1 VHRC Caduceus Classic (1650m) at Bendigo.
Trainer Mick Chircop said he would make the final call after a workout tomorrow (Monday) morning, but said the plan was to race this week.
“I was going to trial him again Monday night, but most of the good horses will be racing this week so there won’t be much against him in a trial. He needs to get to the races, so I think I’ll go to Bendigo this week,” he said.
“His work was really good yesterday (Saturday) morning in the wet. He felt good. If he works well again tomorrow, we’ll run this week.
“The fact it’s a sprint race and he’s so versatile makes it a good starting point.”
General Dodge, who boasts 14 wins from just 19 starts, hasn’t raced since winning the Golden Reign free-for-all at Melton on May 1. It followed a first-up win after 14 months out when he scored at Geelong on April 17.
“The Victoria Cup is the target, so he needs racing now,” Chircop said.
“We’ve got the race this week, the Kilmore Cup (September 24) and the Victoria Cup.”
After watching General Dodge brilliantly win a trial at Melton recently – beating Out To Play, Wolf Stride and others – rival trainer Andy Gath was moved to say “he might be the fastest horse I’ve seen.”
Glen Craven substituted for Jason Lee in the trial, but Chircop confirmed Lee would be back onboard this week.
“Jason had some (race) drives the day of that trial and I said don’t bother getting off them for a trial, so he got Glen to come up and drive him for me,” he said.
“Glen and Jason say how easily he does it and how he doesn’t feel like he’s going as fast as he is.”