The Makybe Diva Stakes is firming as the probable next start for Spring Racing Carnival banner horse Puissance de Lune.
Trainer Darren Weir this morning said that the $350,000 Group 1 event, at Flemington on 7 September, was the race he was leaning to and he only needed the thumb s up from owner Gerry Ryan and form analyst Deane Lester to lock it in.
“Probably the Makybe Diva I wouldn't have thought,” Weir said when asked on RSN's Racing Ahead where the entire was heading.
“Gerry and Deane will have another chat, but that's the way I'm thinking.”
The options for the Shamardal six-year-old are the Makybe Diva Stakes, which would be his first start in a Group 1 race, or the $300,000 Group 2 Dato' Tan Chin Nam Stakes (1600m) at Moonee Valley the following week.
Puissance de Lune, who rose to prominence with runaway wins in the Bendigo Cup and Queen Elizabeth Stakes last Spring Racing Carnival, confirmed his drawcard status with a brilliant first-up victory in last Saturday's Group 2 P.B. Lawrence Stakes (1400m).
That was his first start since undergoing an operation to remove bone chips after a dead-heat success in the Blamey Stakes in March and Weir said he had come through it well.
“Everything seems nice and well,” Weir said. “The leg's nice and cold and he's nice and bright in himself.”
The Lawrence win affirmed Puissance de Lune's place at the head of the TAB's Emirates Melbourne Cup market – at $5 – while he also rocketed to favouritism, at $5.50, for the $3 million Sportingbet Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley on 26 October.