Australian Cup unlikely for Tosen Stardom

Australian Cup favourite Tosen Stardom is unlikely to take his place in the Group One race at Flemington.

Trainer Darren Weir said the Japanese import had endured a tough run at his return outing in the C F Orr Stakes at Caulfield last Saturday and took longer to recover than expected.

Tosen Stardom finished 11th behind Hartnell after a wide run.

Racing Victoria stewards reported post-race that Tosen Stardom had a poor recovery, heat stress and the thumps.

Weir said the Group Two Blamey Stakes (1600m) at Flemington on March 17 was likely to be Tosen Stardom’s next outing, a week after the 2000m Australian Cup.

“He’s all right now but it’s obviously not the ideal way to start a preparation,” Weir told RSN927.

“He’ll be fine but we’ll just poke around with him and probably change plans a bit now and maybe go to the Blamey to give him some time to get over the run and then head up to Sydney for the carnival.

“It is unlikely. I’m not set in concrete with that but knowing how horses need to have the first-up run to get to their goal, it wasn’t the ideal run so I’d say it will be hard to get to the Australian Cup in the right order.”

Tosen Stardom was listed with TAB at $5 ahead of Hartnell and Gailo Chop at $6.