Gold Coast trainer Paul Shailer insists Mister Bianco isn’t ready yet for any trips interstate

Mister Bianco, who was controversially scratched from the Winx Guineas, will have one more run in Brisbane on Saturday before a spell, but there are no plans yet to send him interstate yet.

Gold Coast trainer Paul Shailer insists Mister Bianco isn’t ready yet for any trips interstate to compete in major races but he’ll know more about the promising gelding’s prospects this summer.

Shailer has earmarked a potential tilt at The Gateway (1400m) at Eagle Farm in December which offers a golden ticket into next year’s Stradbroke Handicap to the winner.

It’s the same $300,000 contest that took cult galloper The Inflictor and hobby trainer Craig Cousins on a magic carpet ride to this year’s edition of Queensland’s premier race.

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Mister Bianco ($3.30) is the narrow favourite for a 3YO Handicap (1350m) at Doomben on Saturday, slightly ahead of the Richard and Bevan Laming-trained colt Savour The Dream ($3.50).

“He’s not ready for Sydney or Melbourne,” Shailer said about Mister Bianco, who was a late scratching from this month’s $300,000 Group 3 Winx Guineas (1600m) at the Sunshine Coast after Shailer couldn’t find a suitable rider following an injury to Ryan Maloney.

“He’s not good enough at the moment so we might as well race for good Saturday prizemoney here (in Brisbane) while we can.

“He’ll have a spell and then we’ll bring him back for some summer racing.”

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Mister Bianco has been flying during a campaign that started in mid-April, winning three of his past four races, including last month’s $150,000 TL Cooney (1350m) at Ipswich.

“He’s a few runs in and some pros think he should be in the paddock,” Shailer said.

“I’m very mindful of that and I’m certainly looking for reasons for him to show me that he’s ready to go to the paddock but he hasn’t given me any.

“Until that happens he’ll be racing. He’s in fantastic order and his work on Tuesday was as good as I’ve seen from him.”

Mister Bianco will go for a spell after Saturday. Picture: Trackside Photography

Co-trainer Richard Laming said he would set a spring plan for Savour The Dream after seeing how the colt performed in his next two runs.

The three-year-old returns to the track on Saturday after finishing 12th in the $1m Group 1 Australian Guineas (1600m) at Flemington on March 1 and then 11th in the $750,000 Group 1 Rosehill Guineas (2000m) in Sydney three weeks later.

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“Look, we’re not wound down and we’re not screwed up so whatever we do, we’ll improve on,” Laming said.

“He’s going to go up in distance but we’re unsure where he’ll go. I’ll be guided by how he performs over his first couple of runs, whether we go interstate or just give him a short prep and turn him back out.

“Sometimes with three-year-olds, when they do a fair bit of racing and they’re travelling like that horse did, they don’t sort of come up so that’s always in the back of your mind.

“If he doesn’t fire over his first two runs then we’ll probably turn him back out.”

Laming said that after Saturday, Savour The Dream would head to a Benchmark 85 (1600m) at Eagle Farm before he formulated a plan for the colt’s spring assault.

Originally published as Gold Coast trainer Paul Shailer insists Mister Bianco isn’t ready yet for any trips interstate