Empress Club Stakes moved

THE Gr 1 R1 million weight for age Empress Club Stakes has been moved from 15 April to 22 April for the reason Phumelela are hoping to be graced by the on course presence of HSH Princess Charlene of Monaco.

The prestigious Turffontein Standside 1 600m event for fillies and mares will also be named the HSH Princess Charlene Empress Club Stakes.

Furthermore, the two maiden plate races of R250,000 which Princess Charlene sponsors and which were previously run on Peermont Emperor’s Palace Charity Mile day have been moved to this meeting.

The later date of the race will be welcomed by Highveld trainers of top threeyear-old fillies as this will give them three weeks recovery time after the Gr 1 SA Fillies Classic, which is to be run on April 1.

On the other hand, the race will now be only two weeks before the Gr 2 Daisy Fillies Guineas at Greyville in KZN, which is to be run on May 7.

One top three-year-old filly who will be in the Empress Club Stakes is the Roy Magner-trained Anna Pavlova and she will arrive relatively fresh as she is skipping the SA Fillies Classic.

Anna Pavlova, by St Petersburg, was purchased in-training by Barry Irwin’s Team Valor International before her last start in the Gr 2 Wilgerbosdrift Gauteng Fillies Guineas, although a share in her was retained by original owners Courtney and Megan Soal. She has a magnificent turn of foot, which was evident when she won the Gr 3 Three Troikas Stakes over 1 450m on the Turffontein Inside track.

However, from a wide draw in the Fillies Guineas, she was simply too far out of her ground turning for home.

She did run on well in the very soft conditions for a six length seventh, so connections will be hoping for a better draw this time.

Anna Pavlova is only merit rated 93, so is going to face a tough task at the weights. However, it will be fitting to have her in a race on the same day of the visit of Princess Charlene as she was named after one of the most graceful ballerina’s of all time.