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Group One winner El Soldado continues to keep time at bay with the veteran on target for a return to top level competition.
“He’s coming up well again, he doesn’t know he’s an 11-year-old,” Cambridge trainer and part-owner Phillip Devcich said.
“He’s still the same and it would be great to get him to the Auckland Cup again.”El Soldado caused a massive upset when he returned a winning divided of $125 in the 2016 edition of the Group One Barfoot & Thompson-sponsored feature.
The Colombia gelding again rocked punters at Ellerslie earlier this year when he paid $69 when adding the Gr.2 Avondale Cup (2400m) to his record.Devcich will be looking for a good showing from El Soldado in Saturday’s Dunstan Feeds Championship Qualifier (2100m) at Te Rapa to firm up plans to tackle both cups again.
“I think he might need this run, but I’ll be happy as long as he’s finishing off as a lead up to the Avondale Cup,” he said.“The Auckland Cup is the big one, he’s still trucking along and you’ve got to have a go. It would be nice to have a good season with him and then maybe finish up.”
El Soldado was unplaced when resuming at Pukekohe last month and was also out of the money under 62.5kg over 2200m at Ellerslie earlier this month.“He had to carry a lot of weight in his last run, but he’s done well since then,” Devcich said.