Talented three-year-old Not An Option (Not A Single Doubt) rounded out his campaign with a game third placing in Sunday’s Gr.3 Winx Guineas (1600m) at the Sunshine Coast.
The Tony Pike-trained colt went back to last with eventual winner Our Playboy, but unlike the winner who followed the rail home, Not An Option attempted to loop the field and ran home solidly for third.
“The run was super,” Pike said of the son of Not A Single Doubt.
“He ended up getting shuffled back to near last, a mile off the speed and the winner saved a lot of ground up the fence. He just got wider and wider and wider from 600m and closed off really well.
“It’s frustrating but encouraging going forward.
“He’s going to spell in Sydney at Limitless Lodge for probably two or three weeks and then a Melbourne program will be put together looking ahead to the spring.”
Not An Option, who sports the black and gold checks of Cambridge Stud proprietors Brendon and Jo Lindsay, showed that he was more than capable of getting a mile and potentially further.
“He’s had a lot of unfortunate hiccups through the last 18 months which aren’t his fault, but he seems to have come out the other end of it and two of his three runs were very good,” Pike said.
“If he can stretch it a bit more into his four-year-old season he shouldn’t be far away in some nice mile races in Melbourne. He’ll probably get a nice 2000m if the right race is around as well.”
