Racing: Charles Road on track for Oz

Charles Road. Photo / Race Images

Well-performed stayer Charles Road is pencilled in for The Championships.

A lucrative domestic campaign has the Matamata 4-year-old on the verge of a trip across the Tasman in a quest for Group 1 honours.

"If he comes through the next couple of weeks well we're going to take him to Sydney," said Andrew Scott, who prepares the son of Myboycharlie with Lance O'Sullivan.

"He'll run in the Chairman's and all going well into the Sydney Cup."

The Group 2 Chairman's Handicap (2600m) will be run at Randwick on April 7 with the Group 1 Sydney Cup (3200m) a week later.

Placed in the Group 2 Rich Hill Mile (1600m) on New Year's Day, Charles Road won the Group 3 City of Auckland Cup (2400m) two runs later and last time out he finished sixth in the Group 1 Auckland Cup (3200m).

He was less than a length and a-half from the winner Ladies First in the Ellerslie feature.

"We were pleased with his performance and he's just had a bit of a quiet time since and a freshen-up has done him the world of good," Scott said.

Meanwhile, the promising 2-year-old Nirvana In Fire has taken no harm from an unplaced effort after a tough run in the Group 1 Sistema Stakes (1200m) and will trial at Taupo on Tuesday.

"He was caught off the track from a wide gate at Ellerslie and that was that," Scott said.

"We're looking to run him at Rotorua on April 2 and we think he's in for a good autumn."

Gifted mare Sleeping Beauty, the winner of five of her 10 starts, will also be at the Taupo trials before her return to racing.

- NZ Racing Desk