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Trainer John Sargent is confident his classic filly Luvaluva can get back on track for the ATC Australian Oaks with a start in the Adrian Knox Stakes at Randwick next Saturday.

Luvaluva’s autumn preparation was upset last week when she was diagnosed with a higher than normal white blood cell count.

Such a diagnosis can indicate the onset of a virus. Sargent didn’t take any risks, reporting the condition to stewards and deciding on Thursday to scratch Luvaluva from her engagement in the G1 Vinery Stud Stakes (2000m) at Rosehill on Saturday.

The Vinery was a key race in Luvaluva’s preparation for the $1 million ATC Oaks (2400m) at Randwick on April 14.

The winner of the G2 Wakeful Stakes (2000m) at Flemington in the spring before a fourth in the G1 VRC Oaks (2500m) had returned to winning form with a powerful second-up win in the Kembla Grange Classic (1600m) on March 16 and was set to complete her Oaks build up in the Vinery.

Fortunately Luvaluva has not been affected by the blood count issue with Sargent reporting she has not missed any work since Thursday.

He is confident she will be fit to take her place in the $200,000 Adrian Knox Stakes (2000m) at Randwick on Saturday although stewards have ordered that she must receive a vet clearance prior to starting

Kerrin McEvoy rode Luvaluva for the first time in the Kembla Grange Classic and will stick with the filly in the Adrian Knox Stakes, a race that sits second to the Vinery Stakes as Sydney’s key lead-up top the Oaks.

McEvoy formed a big opinion of Luvaluva at Kembla Grange and has heeded Sargent’s advice that he rates the filly on a par with his previous classic fillies Gust Of Wind and Thunder Lady.

Sargent won the 2015 ATC Oaks with Gust Of Wind while Thunder Lady won the Wakeful Stakes and finished second in the VRC Oaks in 2014. She went on to finish third in the Vinery Stud Stakes in 2015 and fifth behind stablemate Gust Of Wind in the ATC Oaks.

“Of all the good three-year-old fillies I have had I think Luvaluva will be even better the way she is improving physically and mentally,” Sargent said last week.

“She will be a very good mare in the spring.”

Sargent plans to spell Luvaluva for six weeks after the ATC Oaks before setting her for the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups in the spring.