Abbey Marie aimed at Caulfield Cup
Melbourne trainer Mick Kent will wait until after the Bletchingly Stakes before deciding on Group I targets for Supido while having Caulfield Cup aspirations for another of his stable stars.
Supido resumed from a spell with a comfortable win in Saturday’s Group III Sir John Monash Stakes at Caulfield and is slated to run in the Bletchingly Stakes (1200m) at the same track on Saturday week.
Supido has won seven of his 13 starts and was placed at Group I in last year’s Goodwood.
Group I sprints such as the Moir Stakes (1000m) and Manikato Stakes (1200m) at Moonee Valley in spring are on the radar, but the rising six-year-old could also be stretched out to the 1400m of the Memsie Stakes (1400m).
‘‘I think we’ll just have a chat after his next run and just try to map out the best programme for him,’’ Kent told RSN927.
Stablemate Abbey Marie, last year’s Group One Australasian Oaks winner, is being readied for her spring campaign which will be aimed towards the Caulfield Cup (2400m).
Abbey Marie won the oaks at her third start but then suffered health issues with an infection and a bout of laminitis which forced her out of last spring.
She returned in the autumn and raced four times with her best result a fourth in the Mannerism Stakes.
She suffered a hamstring injury when unplaced in the Coolmore Classic in Sydney but Kent managed to get her to the Group I Coolmore Legacy Stakes at Randwick in April in which she finished 12th behind Foxplay.
‘‘She ran really well in the race Foxplay won,’’ Kent said. ‘‘She just had not much luck and it was very heavy ground.
‘‘She’s had a good break, she’s come back and we’re sort of on a Caulfield Cup prep. We’d like to see her get to that distance. That’s where she’s going to be effective so we’ll just head along that route. Former Kiwi galloper Sound Proposition and Marenostro, are both entered for the Listed Tattersall’s Mile at Doomben on Saturday, the final stakes race in Brisbane for the season.
A Group One winner in New Zealand for Lance O’sullivan and Andrew Scott, Sound Proposition made an immediate impact at his first start for new trainer Kris Lees when he won a 1600m-handicap at Randwick on June 24.
The five-year-old’s five wins have all been over 1600m including the 2016 Group One Easter Handicap at Ellerslie.