Options remain open for Orr Stakes winner

Trainer Mike Moroney has yet to decided the next step for three-year-old Orr winner Alabama Express.

Orr Stakes winner Alabama Express will be nominated for the Group One Futurity Stakes but trainer Mike Moroney is still undecided which path the colt will take.

Alabama Express upstaged the older horses to win the weight-for-age Group One Orr at Caulfield last Saturday week and Saturday’s Futurity is run under the same conditions over the same 1400m-course.

There is also the option to step him up to 1600m in the Group One Australian Guineas against his own age on Saturday week at Flemington or drop him back to 1200m in the Newmarket Handicap..

If he runs in the Guineas he would clash with Alligator Blood and Catalyst who battled out Saturday’s C S Hayes Stakes.

“He’s certainly bred to be able to go further but we’re sort of studying the races and the horses that we’ll be racing against and those two three-year-olds looked pretty smart yesterday,” Moroney said.

“We think a lot of our horse too, so it’s just a matter of whether we go to the mile or what we do.

“In the Futurity obviously Super Seth is going to be in there and Melody Belle. They are the two main ones and I think Kolding is going to be down for it so it’s going to be a strong enough race as well.

“I’m happy with the horse but it’s just a matter of getting through the next three days and I’ll give him a gallop and see how he handles it and then we’ll take it from there.”

Alabama Express lost 14kg from his tough run in the Orr which was more than usual but Moroney said the colt seemed to have recovered well.

“He seems really good,” Moroney said.

“He put all the weight he lost back on within four days. He’s a great eater and has got a great constitution.”

Moroney said although Alabama Express had already won the Group One Orr, he believed there were still more big wins in the colt.

“I think he’s the new kid on the block that’s improved and always looked like he had the room to improve,” he said.