IMPORTED galloper Khezerabad earnt a start in the Adelaide Cup for Warrnambool trainer Aaron Purcell after he won a $135,000 open handicap over 2500 metres at Flemington on Saturday.
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Purcell said Khezerabad missed a start in last year’s Adelaide Cup but following his victory over One For Later and Pedro Kimenex, the main target for the six-year-old will be the $400,000 Adelaide Cup on March 11.
“It was a solid win by Khezerabad,” he said. “I thought he was very game. The Adelaide Cup will be his main goal. We wanted to run in the Adelaide Cup last year but he had a couple of minor issues which forced us to miss the race.
He’s a big gross horse. It was his third run from a break so I’m confident he will improve a lot on that run.
“He’ll have possibly three runs maybe four before the Adelaide Cup. He’s big strong horse who needs the racing to maintain his fitness.”
Khezerabad’s stablemate Double Bluff ran last in the field of seven.
“The pace in the race just didn’t suit Double Bluff,” Purcell said. “He’s being set for a jumps campaign. We’ll just take him along slowly putting the miles in his legs.”
Khezerabad picked up $74,250 in prizemoney for his win.