By Neil Evans
A progressive filly can make an audacious bid for Country Championships contention if she salutes on her provincial debut at Thursday’s Wyong meeting.
Kantishna, a three-year-old daughter of powerhouse sprint sire Headwater in the Scott Singleton stable at Scone, tackles a Benchmark 64 Hcp over 1000m.
Racing returns to Wyong on Thursday.Credit: Getty Images
Taking a long while to hit her straps, Kantishna now looks to have turned the corner, and is hunting a third win from her last four starts in a sparingly raced campaign.
Switching across three separate stables in the Upper Hunter and New England through the middle of last year had connections wondering if she would ever find her best.
But after two fair efforts at Tamworth and Scone heading into last spring, Singleton promptly spelled the filly, and gave her more time to mature and develop.
The move paid dividends, Kantishna returning with a dominant maiden win at Tamworth over 1000m, running under 33 seconds for her last 600m.
She then repeated the dose a month later in a CL1 at Gunnedah as a short-priced favourite before narrowly being beaten in a stronger BM 66 at Tamworth after doing plenty of work early in the race.
That convinced connections she was ready for provincial opposition, but will likely get an immediate test from a resuming Godolphin three-year-old blessed with plenty of ability.
Last Druid, a gelding by Brazen Beau, hasn’t started since a rank failure down the Flemington straight on Melbourne Cup day.
Coincidentally, four starts earlier he had won his maiden at Wyong before heading south and twice beating all but the winner at Sandown and The Valley.
Given two improving trials, Last Druid opened a $3.80 favourite for his Wyong return, with Kantishna priced around $4.70 early.
Singleton has two other significant runners on the program.
Earlier ex-metropolitan four-year-old Zoomorphic has his first run for the yard in a competitive sprint for the older maidens off a four-month break.
Then in the final race, he will be banking on sharp second-up improvement from his talented sprinter Remlaps Commander when he tackles a BM 64 Hcp over 1200m.
Supplied by Racing NSW
Full form and race replays available at racingnsw.com.au
