Plans Fluid For Gingernuts

Following the abandonment of Saturday's G1 Livamol Classic at Hastings in New Zealand the pre-race favourite Gingernuts (NZ) (Iffraaj {GB}) now looks unlikely to take up his engagement in the G1 Caulfield Cup Oct. 21. Trainers Stephen Autridge and Jamie Richards had planned to use Saturday's Group 1 as a prelude to Caulfield for the Te Akau Racing owned gelding but that plan is now up in the air with connections mulling options. “It's certainly not ideal as it puts us in a very tricky situation with Gingernuts and his Caulfield Cup bid,” Stephen Autridge told Racing.com. “At this stage we are booked on a flight to Australia on Wednesday but would be heading over after missing a vital race. We're not sure if they are going to re-run the race but if it wasn't tomorrow [Sunday] or Monday then it's not an option for him. It would also mean he would have to travel to Australia, race on the Saturday and then back-up seven days later for the Cup. It's not something we've done with him before and I just don't know if it is a viable option.” Gingernuts is already a triple Group 1 winner with top level wins in both Australia and New Zealand on his CV and Autridge added, “All we can do is sit down with David [Ellis] and the owners and work out what our options are once we know what the future of the Livamol Classic is, so hopefully we will have a plan in place in the next 24 hours.”