Little bit of luck all Pedrena asking for
CLASSY Victorian mare Pedrena must do everything right to salute in the Group 1 Tatts Tiara at Doomben on Saturday, according to trainer Mick Price, but he couldn’t be happier with the mare headed into the race.
Price is hoping to draw in the first half of the barriers, which would provide the $15 chance with her best chance of providing him with his fifth Group 1 of the season.
“She will need to have all the luck to go her own way, it is probably the toughest race she has ever been in,” Price said.
“She drew barrier one and never went around a horse (when she won the Group 3 Glenlogan Park Stakes last month), so we need to draw inside eight if we can.
“It’s a tough race but I’m happy with her.”
Pedrena is another Price bargain buy, with the astute trainer having an uncanny knack of unearthing relatively inexpensive yearlings and turning them into Group performers.
She was sold as a yearling for $60,000, and has now won more than $400,000.
Price is confident Pedrena, who has won six of her 13 starts, will return even better next campaign.
“I think this time next year you will see she is bigger, stronger and better muscled,” he said.
Fellow Victorian trainer Andrew Noblet said the lure of a valuable Group 1 win was the reason for his mare Super Cash heading north for the Queensland winter carnival.
A triple Group 2 winner, Super Cash has had eight starts in Group 1 races without winning but came close at her most recent outing when second to Santa Ana Lane in the $1.5 million Stradbroke Handicap at Doomben.
“Last start was the first time she has placed in a Group 1, so we got that out of the way which was good for her record,” Noblet said.
“If she can win one, it would just cap everything off nicely.”
Noblet was at the Sunshine Coast yesterday morning to watch Super Cash have a hit-out in preparation for the Tiara and said the mare seemed in good order.