By Ray Hickson
Trainer Brett Robb is asking consistent six-year-old Moetta one simple question on Sunday – can you run out a strong 1400m?
The mare has shown signs that she could stretch out beyond the short course and will get her chance to prove it, albeit in testing conditions, in the $55,000 Moree Cup (1400m), which has been transferred to Tamworth.
The Moree Cup is the feature on a strong card on Sunday.
Robb has only had Moetta in his care since the autumn. She had her first five starts for the Dubbo trainer at 1000m before stretching her out to 1200m in the feature sprint on Forbes Cup Day.
She went down fighting there after being pestered on the speed, which suggests that at least the six furlongs is no issue.
Moetta’s last start was in the Collie Cup at Gilgandra on August 20, when she went down narrowly after racing on speed again and just failing to grab the winner, Lady Shenanigans.
Senior jockey Serg Lisnyy has the ride at Moree and, from barrier two, he will allow Moetta every chance at her first attempt over the 1400m. Moetta won on a heavy 10 in December 2020 and doesn’t know how to run a bad race this preparation.
It is possible that Armidale trainer Stirling Osland could miss the Moree Cup with Point Counterpoint as he works out how to guide the gelding to the $500,000 Little Dance (1600m) on November 1.
Point Counterpoint earned eligibility for $2million The Big Dance when he finished runner-up in the Armidale Cup at his last start in December, but Osland is realistic about him making the final field given that he will be quite a way down in the ballot.
“Once they announced the [Little Dance], we thought there might be a chance of it being an option,” Osland said. “We’ve probably got to put a win or two on the board to bump our rating up.”
If he doesn’t go to Moree, Osland said he would look to kick off in a midweek race in Sydney, but he is also wary he hasn’t been able to trial the five-year-old due to trials being washed out.
Supplied by Racing NSW
Full form and race replays available at racingnsw.com.au.
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