While John Thompson clocked up the air miles to watch Auvray scratched at the barriers in the Singapore Gold Cup, another recent stable acquisition has been logging just as many kilometres via road to find a race.
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Impossible to miss in his new striking maroon colours with a white map of Queensland and a big 'W', Whittington has been forced to dodge another big 'W' – the wet – triggered by Cyclone Marcia to get back to the track.
It has tempted Thompson to send Whittington on two interstate trips in the space of a week – first from Queensland to Sydney and then on to Melbourne – in a bid for a first group 1 win in the $400,000 Oakleigh Plate at Caulfield on Saturday.
"We were disappointed we got washed out last week because I thought he was in a real winnable race and the owners wanted to run away from the wet weather, so he came down here," Thompson said.
"He worked well here [Randwick] on Tuesday and they wanted to have a crack at the race on Saturday, so we sent him down to Melbourne. The only problem is this is his first run in Melbourne and he's travelled two states to get there. He came here to Sydney for nearly a week and had a little break and then went on to Melbourne."
But the lure of a first major was too good to pass up for his new owners, a group of stud managers who prised the horse from Star Thoroughbreds with a view to standing him at stud up north after his racing career.
Now Thompson has to weave his magic and improve a four-year-old which has been racing since his opening two-year-old race, a winning effort in the Breeders' Plate, and has already shuffled through the yards of Gai Waterhouse and Chris Waller.
"I'm still learning about him and on his work he looks like a stakes horse, but it's going to be hard having his first start the Melbourne way at Caulfield in a group 1," Thompson said.
"He ran well [in his first start for Thompson at Doomben], but he just drew the outside gate and was stuck wide the whole way. His condition gave out that last little bit, but he's come on since the run and he looks great."
Most of Thompson's autumn eggs rest in the First Seal basket and the group 1-winning filly, the early favourite for the Queen Of The Turf, will step out in the Surround Stakes at Warwick Farm.
"She went into that [first-up] run [in the Light Fingers Stakes] a little bit underdone and if they were going to beat her it was going to be over the 1200 [metres]," Thompson said. "The run has brought her on and switched her on and her work has been very good this week. I'm very happy going into the race."
