Group 1 shot can wait for Sierra Sue

CO-TRAINER Trent Busuttin is happy to put a Group 1 tilt on hold and give talented fouryear-old Sierra Sue her chance to prove herself in the $7.5m Golden Eagle on Saturday at Rosehill.

Busuttin, who trains alongside Natalie Young, had Group 1 options in Melbourne available for his daughter of Darci Brahma but opted against running her closer to home to give Sierra Sue a crack in Sydney.

“She is a progressive mare,” Busuttin said.

“She is two from two on rain-affected tracks and while we could have gone to the Empire Rose Stakes the same day, we decided to go here.

“If she is going to be a Group 1 mare she is going to get plenty of cracks over the next couple of years and she only gets one crack at this.

“It’s a massive step up from what she has been doing but she will be competitive.”

Sierra Sue (pictured) runs in the same colours as Cox Plate winner Sir Dragonet and is owned by many of the same connections including Ozzie Kheir and Brae Sokolski.

If she was to win the Golden Eagle it would cap off a huge few weeks for connections with Sir Dragonet also set to line up in a Melbourne Cup.

Sierra Sue heads into the Golden Eagle a month between runs after producing a career-best display last start to capture the Group 2 Rose Of Kingston Stakes at Flemington.

“We contemplated running her a few weeks ago but when we had a good look at her form we thought it would be better to keep her fresh,” Busuttin said.

“It was a career best run the other day and we thought if we gave her another one over 1400m, she might be looking for further by the time we got to the Golden Eagle.

“She has been working on her Sydney leg and should be ready to go come Saturday.”

Sierra Sue is set to arrive in Sydney later this week and will be ridden by Nash Rawiller in Saturday’s feature race.