Plans to send GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint winner Bacio (Maclean's Music) to Australia for the Feb. 13 G1 Black Caviar Lightning Stakes at Flemington Racecourse have been scuttled, reports trainer Wesley Ward. Ward seemed optimistic about making the trip down under after the win in the Breeders' Cup but said that after he and the ownership group had time to consider the obstacles involved, the decision was made to stay home.“I have a very, very good feeling that he would win the race just because he's on the top of his game,” Ward said. “But the negative to that is that after going all that way and having to come home, it would probably impact his spring and early summer schedule. I like to give my good sprinters a little downtime in the winter and then build them back up and get them ready for Keeneland or the big races they have for sprinters Derby Week at Churchill. Going to Australia would have prevented us from doing that. We'd have to center on a late summer campaign to get him back going. So, we're not going to go. He's only three. Maybe we can go next year.”Ward said another factor was the financial costs of traveling to Australia. He said he asked the Victoria Racing Club if it could help cover the expenses and while the group did offer to help, Ward said the trip was still going to be costly.“We had some discussions with the people over there,” Ward said. “Somebody's got to pay for it and we asked if we could get some sort of compensation. When you go to Ascot, they give you a little stipend and that helps, but going to Ascot and going to Australia are two different animals. The Australian representatives were going to give us a travel allowance, but it just wasn't going to warrant the expense. That was a factor. We'd have to bring the team and (jockey) Juan Hernandez over there and it was going to cost a lot.”Ward said he will now point for the GII Shakertown Stakes, which is run during the spring meet at Keeneland. He added that the Keeneland race will be a prep for a return to Royal Ascot for the G1 King Charles III Stakes at Royal Ascot. Bacio, dubbed “the fastest horse in the world” by Ward, has won twice this year in Europe, capturing the Palace of Holyroodhouse Stakes (Handicap) at Royal Ascot and the G1 Coolmore City Of Troy Nunthorpe Stakes at York.“I was really looking forward to going there myself and with my family and seeing another part of the world,” Ward said. “But even though I have white hair, I'm only 58, so, hopefully, there'll be another time.”The Black Caviar Lightning Stakes, run down the 1000-meter straight course at Flemington, is worth A$1 million or $695,000 in U.S. dollars.The post Bacio Will Not Make Trip To Australia appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.