Patience the key to Pinarello

Queensland Derby hero Pinarello will fly back to New Zealand on Friday for a well-deserved break, with trainers Roger James and Robert Wellwood keen to play the waiting game with the talented young stayer.

The winner of four of his seven starts, the son of Tavistock will likely have a quiet spring. 

“As a four-year-old in the spring he'll still be it an emerging weak horse. He’s improved during the season but he's far from there yet,” James told Bensley.

“I think in a year’s time he'll be pretty much a made horse. All going well, he’ll probably get to Melbourne in the spring but I would think just for a couple of lesser options and then Sydney in the autumn we might start to get excited.

“I think placing them is very important and if they need time, they need time and you've just got to give it to them.”

Pinarello sports the colours of Brendan and Jo Lindsay of Cambridge Stud, who bred the smart three-year-old who is out of their Group Three winning Zabeel mare Zonza.