There’s a spring in Eurell’s step

By Marc McGowan
CRANBOURNE trainer Greg Eurell is excited about his spring prospects after watching his latest stable star Mic Mac emerge over the past two months.
The four-year-old gelding beat a quality field to win his second Group race at Caulfield last month and looms as a champion-sprinter-in-the-making.
Mic Mac also edged stablemate and eight-time Group 1 winner Apache Cat in placing fifth in the Group 1 Manikato Stakes at Moonee Valley on Friday night.
Eurell still struggles to separate his two sprinters.
“Mic Mac’s a bit of a new kid on the block, so he’s on the up,” he said.
“But Apache’s got the score on the board, so Mic Mac’s got to catch him if he can.
“He’s certainly got a lot of ability, so hopefully we can capitalise on that. If he can emulate Apache we’d be very happy.”
Last week was Apache Cat’s first start since saluting in the Group 1 Doomben 10,000 in May.
The seven-year-old gelding will meet Mic Mac again in the Group 2 Schweppes Stakes at Moonee Valley on Cox Plate Day before pushing onto the Group 1 Patinack Farm Classic at Flemington on 7 November.
Eurell has not ruled out another attempt at the Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint at the end of the year after Apache Cat finished third in the race last December.
“If he’s going well enough, we’ll head to Hong Kong and let him have another go over there,” he said.
“It’s just a matter of whether he’s going well enough.”
Eurell may also add a Cranbourne Cup to his glittering list of achievements in less than two weeks’ time after taking over the training of last year’s winner Majestical.
He took the reins from Bendigo trainer Matthew Enright in February and said he may aim for back-to-back Cranbourne Cups with Majestical.
“It just depends how he comes through his workload in the next couple of weeks,” Eurell said.
“If he pulls up really well he’s certainly a strong possibility to go there. He’s ticking over nicely and may be in contention for it again.”
Eurell expects Majestical to receive a 1.5kg penalty for last year’s victory if he does take on the local cup.
The six-year-old gelding may progress to the Mackinnon Stakes at the end of this campaign.
Eurell also tipped his three-year-old gelding Red Colossus as one to watch in the coming months.