Noel Doyle will put his thinking cap on this week to decide whether to head to Sydney for the autumn or remain at home to target the Brisbane winter carnival following Celtic Dancer's narrow Doomben victory.

   Celtic Dancer got up in the last bound to edge out Epic by a short half head in the Coca-Cola Amatil QTIS Handicap (1350m).

   It was the fifth win in nine starts for the son of Choisir whose $53,000 first prize cheque took his career earnings to $197,250, a massive return on his $40,000 purchase as a Magic Millions yearling.

   Doyle has a big opinion of Celtic Dancer and was confident he could atone after his fourth to Torio's Quest in the Magic Millions Guineas (1400m) at the Gold Coast earlier this month.

   Doyle has compared Celtic Dancer favorably to some of his former top sprinters including multiple Group One winner Kinjite.

   "He's not as good as Kinjite yet but he's getting there," Doyle said.

   "Kinjite won an Epsom and this bloke hasn't won a Listed race yet."

   Doyle, who paid tribute to the fighting effort from runner-up Epic, will consider whether to send Celtic Dancer to Sydney for the Group One Rosehill Guineas.

   "I want to sit down and study the program to see if we will still have time to bring him back for the Queensland Guineas here," Doyle said.

   "The Hobartville Stakes would be his lead-up race if he went down.

   "He's a very good horse. He carried his big weight (58kgs) well but you haven't seen the best of him yet."

   Doyle said runner-up Epic also looked to have a bright future.

   "I really liked the run of the second horse. He's got a big future," Doyle said.

   Epic's trainer Kelly Schweida also would like to target the Group Two Queensland Guineas at Eagle Farm in June.

   However, Schweida is in a dilemma as Epic has less than $17,000 in prizemoney and is unlikely to qualify unless he wins more prizemoney.

   "I'm not sure what to do just yet. He's got Guineas written all over him but he hasn't enough prizemoney right now so we might have to find another race for him before he has a break," Schweida said.

    Racing Queensland Web News

    Photo: Michael Early