Weight a fancy for She’s A Wonder
GUINEAS and Oakswinner, SHE’S A WONDER, will be wondering where is the weight on Saturday when she reports at 114lb, the lightest she has been in almost a year, taking on older horses for the first time in the I’msatisfied Trophy at six furlongs.
Unlike derby third- place FURTHER AND BEYOND, who got the luxury of facing allowance runners, because he had failed to win a three-year-old classic, SHE’S A WONDER, who has never finished ahead of him in a race, has been sentenced by ‘conditions’ to face older horses at a level higher – having won the 1000 Guineas, beating three-yearold fillies.
However, SHE’S A WONDER is such a classy filly, running super light, by her standards, that Open Allowance company might not stop her from logging a seventh win in 13 starts, drawn perfectly on the outside should she, as she is prone to do, miss a step at the gate.
EL PROFESOR, LABAN and DUKE are all run-on sprinters, drawn on the inner, stalls one to three, with the speedsters – MAKEUPARTIST, GOD OF LOVE and SHE’S A WONDER - coming around fast and furious heading into the half-mile turn.
MAKEUPARTIST comes in at 112lb, after clocking 1:11.4 to beat overnight-allowance runners last Saturday, but faces a baptism of fire at the level, which has unrelenting pace, unlike the mediocre field she blew away on a fast track.
GOD OF LOVE’s connections have decided to wring every ounce of weight allowance possible, jocking off leading fivepound claimer, Oshane Nugent, from the overnight programme for Romario Spencer’s nine pounds, taking 124lb down to 116.
Reporting at 116lb, GOD OF LOVE, who saw nothing but SHE’S A WONDER’s stablemate MAHOGANY’s exhaust at five and a half furlongs back in August, is always a tough customer when on song. Though he is more of a specialist at five and a half furlongs, consistently a 1:06.0-plus sprinter, GOD OF LOVE could make SHE’S A WONDER and company pay for any mistake made at the gate.
SHE’S A WONDER might not have run a sprint race since beating imported LURE OF LUCY at five furlongs round in February, contesting the longer classic events and their respective preps. However, the distance races might be a blessing in disguise. The filly’s stamina, which will be required in the closing stages of a six-furlong sprint, would have been tempered by the longer trips, making her even more dangerous should she need to change gears in a duel.
Galloping with FATHER PATRICK Sunday morning, SHE’S A WONDER clocked 1:15.2 on the round, eight days after GOD OF LOVE posted 1:16.3 for the distance, though the clockers reported him as being ‘easy’ in his workout.