Benz set to roll in Wylie

Trainer Gordon Richards said the Group 3 winner, who hasn’t raced since finishing runner-up at Moonee Valley behind Katsuro in June, had come back in great order evident with an impressive recent Morphettville trial.

“I’ve never seen him trial as good as that, it was an impressive,’’ Richards said.

Benz showed brilliant speed in his trial to lead throughout and defeat Group 2 winning mare Viddora who will resume at Moonee Valley in Friday night’s $ 500,000 Group 1 Moir Stakes at Moonee Valley.

“He doesn’t take much work, he’s a pretty easy horse to train,’’ Richards added.

“I don’t think he’d even had a gallop before that trial and to go so good tells me a lot more about him, you learn a bit more about them all the time,’’ he said.

Richards said Benz would head to Melbourne after his local return while he would look at picking suitable races as the Melbourne Spring Carnival progresses.

“We looked at running at Moonee Valley first-up but thought staying here first-up was a better option for him,’’ Richards said.

“There is a 1200m race at Caulfield we’re looking at for him after the Wylie.

“If we can avoid the top sprinters we should be able to find a nice during one of the four days of the Flemington Carnival for him.’’

Richards said his stable was set to ramp things up after a relatively quiet couple of months at the end of the 2016-17 season which netted 21 city wins – placing him sixth on the Metropolitan Trainers’ Premiership

“Things are building up,’’ Richards added.

“We put a few horses out when I got crook, had a holiday and it turned out great, the weather wasn’t too good here so we’re back and ready to fire.’’