Sarrera heads to NZ - from AAP

 Robert Windmill
MELBOURNE, July 7 AAP - The Mike Moroney-trained star Sarrera will be flown to New Zealand this weekend to start his build-up to the Cox Plate.
Moroney said the rising nine-year-old would target a series of Group One races at Hastings starting with the Mudgway Stakes (1400m) at the end of August and followed by the Stoney Bridge Stakes (1600m) and the Kelt Capital Stakes (2040m) in early October.
Last year Princess Coup followed an identical program and after winning the Stoney Bridge and the Kelt finished ninth in the Cox Plate.
Sarrera hasn't raced since finishing sixth in the Singapore Cup (2000m) on May 17 and has been in pre-training for the last three weeks.
The son of Quest For Fame has won eight of his 38 starts and rose to prominence with Group One wins in the 2008 AJC Queen Elizabeth Stakes and Doomben Cup.
A ruptured spleen forced him to miss last spring but Moroney believes he could be up to contesting the Cox Plate after regaining form last autumn with a half-length second to Pompeii Ruler in the Queen Elizabeth.
"Certainly on his form he is one of the better 2000-metre weight-for-age horses here and his run in the Queen Elizabeth was good," Moroney told radio station Sport 927.
"He appears to be racing as well as ever and so long as he looks to be doing that we will head back for a race like (the Cox Plate) or the Mackinnon."
AAP TURF rw/gm