Mick Price believes Illation might be a star of the future after his near four-length win in Saturday's HC Nitschke Stakes.
So much so, the trainer already harbours dreams of getting the rising four-year-old to a Cox Plate later this year, for which he is currently priced at 40/1.
Stepping stone to bigger things
Illation took his record to two wins from as many races with his victory in the Listed contest at Morphettville and the son of So You Think could be set for the highest stage in the spring.
"I would put a circle around the Cox Plate if you ask me, that dream which I do have at 1am in the morning sometimes," Price told Racing.com.
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"We'll be setting some good plans for the spring of his four-year-old year. He's a really good colt. I thought this was not the most suitable race for him from barrier one but you saw his turn of foot to get him out of jail and that's what we were hoping for.
Careful consideration
"The question is, what to do with him now? I don't really want to be putting a colt like that in the paddock, he does already think he is a bull, so I need to be a bit careful how we spell him."
Illation would not be the first Nitschke Stakes winner to make it to a Cox Plate in the same year, with 2007 heroine Devil Moon finishing fifth to El Segundo, a start after winning the Turnbull Stakes.
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