So Si Bon set for shorter autumn races

Talented three-year-old So Si Bon will be kept to shorter distances in the autumn despite performing well up to 2500 metres.

So Si Bon is enjoying some late spring grass after finishing fourth to Beautiful Romance in the Zipping Classic (2400m) at Sandown on November 12.

That followed a fourth placing behind Prized Icon in the Victoria Derby (2500m) at Flemington two weeks earlier.

“It’s inconclusive whether he runs the trip but he probably doesn’t have to run over a mile-and-a-half again,” trainer Robbie Laing said.

“He’s bred to get no further than 2000 metres and his mother was a flyer.

“So for him to run fourth in the Derby and then run well for fourth again in the Zipping Classic, it was a great effort.”

Laing said So Si Bon had put on weight and was enjoying his break, his first since coming into work in March.

“He came to me around March, raced in June and the plan was to turn him out,” Laing said.

“But we had some high winds and terrible weather so I kept him in the stable, put him out in the sand roll of an afternoon and dropped the grain out of him.

“He freshened up and then we started him off again with the Caulfield Guineas the target.”

So Si Bon was an unlucky fifth in the Caulfield Guineas before pressing on to the three more spring starts, including running second to Sacred Elixir in the Moonee Valley Vase.

Laing said the three-year-old was almost ready for a return to his stable after two weeks in the paddock.

“It’s been three weeks since the Zipping Classic and I didn’t turn him out until the Thursday after,” Laing said.

“He went for his spell with no soreness, no aches or pains.

“Hopefully he’s a bit like me. After two weeks at Hayman Island I’m ready to go back to work and hopefully he wants to get back doing some work also.

“He’ll have one or two runs before the Australian Guineas (March 4) and then he’ll go up to Sydney.”