Sherrif guns for glory
Cambridge trainer gives green light for South Australian Derby bid at Morphettville
Roger James is on the trail of further group success in Adelaide. The Cambridge trainer has confirmed a tilt at Saturday week’s group one South Australian Derby (2500m) at Morphettville with his exciting staying three-year-old Sherrif.
“All going well he will be on the plane on Sunday to Melbourne and go from there,” James said.
“It’s a bit of an ask to do it all on one preparation, but I’m very happy with him.”
Sherrif has won two of his four starts, including a stylish victory in the Manawatu Classic (2000m), and last time out was fifth when unsuited by the heavy going in the group two Championship Stakes (2100m) at Pukekohe Park.
“I firmly believe it was the track and he has come through the race well,” James said.
The son of High Chaparral and the Danehill mare J’Adane is raced by his breeders Brendan and Jo Lindsay, principals of Cambridge Stud, and he will again be partnered by their contracted rider Leith Innes.
Sheriff will be James’ first South Australian Derby contender, but he has previously enjoyed success in the state. In 1997, he won the Adelaide Cup ( 3200m) with Cronus having prepared Te Akau Pearl to finish third in the feature six years earlier.
Meanwhile, Sherrif’s stablemate Hanger, also raced by the Lindsays, has gone for a spell off the back of his close second in the group three Cambridge Breeders’ Stakes (1400m) at Te Rapa.
“He has taken a bit of making and a couple of my staff have done a good job with him,” James said.
“He’s always had pace, but he wanted to use it his way and now we’ve got him doing it our way. I think you’ll see him as an exciting fouryear-old next season.”
Talented stayer Sacred Master will head Tony Pike’s travelling party to the Queensland winter carnival.
The Newcastle Cup (2200m) and Auckland Cup (3200m) placegetter will be accompanied to Brisbane by the three-year-olds Bostonian and Terra Sancta.
“Sacred Master had a trial at Te Teko the other day and we’ll give him two runs before the Brisbane Cup, he’ll probably need them both and his third-up form is pretty good,” Pike said.
“We’ll kick him off and then probably head into the Lord Mayor’s Cup and then the Brisbane Cup.”
Sacred Master won six races from Pike’s Cambridge stable before a stint with Chris Waller in Sydney and the son of Mastercraftsman hasn’t raced for 14 months.
Plans for the Jimmy Choux gelding Bostonian in Queensland have yet to be set in stone with an array of opportunities awaiting the Listed El Roca Trophy (1200m) winner.
“There’s pretty much a three-yearold race every week for the next eight weeks for him so I’ll wait to see how he travels and then make a plan,” Pike said.
“There’s plenty of options, races like the Daybreak Lover and the Fred Best Classic and if he’s going well there’s the Queensland Guineas and the Sunshine Coast Guineas.”
Bostonian hasn’t run since he finished sixth in the New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m), but Pike was thrilled with his recent trial placing at Te Teko.
Terra Sancta’s early Australian performances will also determine the final outcome for the Kevin Hickmanbred and part-owned Pierro filly.
“Kevin was very keen for her to go over and she’ll run at Ipswich on Monday and then at the Sunshine Coast,” Pike said.
“If she could win one of those or place in both then she might make the Queensland Oaks field.”
Terra Sancta has won once from four appearances and was a last-start eighth in the group one New Zealand Oaks (2400m). — NZ Racing Desk