After a nice long break in the paddock, two of our stable stars are set to head to Caulfield on Saturday to kick off their preparations.
Crossthestart developed into a more than handy staying prospect in the spring of 2009 with placings in the Bendigo Cup and the Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Flemington. These great results followed a very successful stint in Queensland where he managed to snare four wins and two placings from his last six starts.
He resumes on Saturday at Caulfield over 1000m and this will be a great starting point to a campaign that will hopefully culminate in him taking out the $300,000 Brisbane Cup. Leading apprentice Brent Evans takes the ride on Saturday. Good luck to his owner Dick Karreman.
Bashful Girl has only spent one campaign with our stable and what a successful one it was. After solid runs in a couple of early races, she really hit her straps with a fast finishing second on Melbourne Cup day. She was on the quick back-up later that week and again ran a teriffic race to finish fifth in the Group 2 Matriarch Stakes.
In her final run last preparation, she again lifted the bar and took out the Group 3 Eclipse Stakes at Sandown. She reusmes on Saturday after a good break and looks ready to run a nice race. Top young apprentice Nathan Rose takes the ride and this run will prepare her for some of the lucrative stakes races in Adelaide. Good luck to her owners Ian and Kathryn MacDonald and Chris and Joanne Sleigh.
In other stable news, popular horse I’m The Fiddle resumes after a short let-up on Wednesday over 1300m at Sandown. He has shown that he excels when fresh and Brian Higgins definitely knows the key to him. Since his maiden win at Geelong in January, he has been set for the Group 1 South Australian Derby in May which would be a great result for his owners. Good luck to everyone on Wednesday