CLASSY West Australian-owned galloper Niblick will make his highly anticipated debut for the Brett Cavanough stable at Canberra on Sunday.
Cavanough bought Niblick for $200,000 for Perth businessman Emile Panossian at Melbourne Cup-winning owner Lloyd Williams’ annual dispersal sale last year.
Niblick joined the Perth stables of Trevor Andrews for the summer carnival at Ascot with a second placing in the group 3 $126,000 R J Peters Hcp the gelding’s best performance from five starts.
The son of Encosta de Lago finished 10th, beaten four-lengths in the group 1 Railway Stakes won by Mr Moet.
Cavanough said Niblick would resume from a 13-week let-up in the $100,000 Canberra National Sprint (1400m) on Sunday with ace Kiwi jockey James McDonald riding him.
“I’ll accept for Sunday but after that, I’m undecided,” Cavanough said yesterday.
“He has got a handy enough fresh record but the query is he hasn’t won for quite a while.
“We’ve just got to try to get him back to somewhere near his best and Sunday will tell us more about where the horse is at.
“After Sunday, we might tinker with his gear and see what happens.
“I’ve got him fit enough for a strong first-up performance.
“Without winning in Perth, he wasn’t far off the mark and copped a bit of bad luck.”
Niblick earlier won six of 14 starts when trained by Robert Hickmott, including the $126,000 Listed Sofitel Stakes at Flemington.
Meanwhile, Cavanough said he was undecided where his progressive mare Ceccanti would next race.
Ceccanti has been nominated for both Sunday’s Corowa Cup and at Moonee Valley the following day.
The five-year-old mare has won her past two starts at Wagga and Kilmore.
“She has done a good job this preparation and I will wait until I see the barriers before making a final decision,” Cavanough said.