Brad Spicer is keen to get the Memsie Stakes winner Snapdancer back to her favourite Randwick 1200m for The Everest and has already had approaches from a couple of slot-holders.
Snapdancer became a two-time group 1 winner with an all-the-way victory at Caulfield in a race that the winner has twice gone on to run in The Everest.
Memsie Stakes winner Snapdancer races clear over the Randwick 1200m and is hoping to get back there for the Everest. Credit:getty
The Spicer Thoroughbreds six-year-old mare is probably left with few good options away from The Everest in the spring after her victory.
“The Memsie was the plan after she was second in the Tatts Tiara but we didn’t look beyond that,” Spicer said. “The Everest shapes as a great race for her if we can a slot.
“I think Randwick 1200m is her best trip, and we have had a talk to a couple of slot-holders.”
After winning the Memsie in 2017, Vega Magic was a charging second to Redzel in the inaugural Everest and Snapdancer carries a similar profile.
Vega Magic won a Goodwood in Adelaide before winning the Memsie in 2017, while Snapdancer won the Robert Sangster Stakes as her first group 1 earlier in the year. Her Randwick 1200m record of two wins and a second from three runs, including the Triscay Stakes, is another positive.
“She races best fresh, so she could go down the beach and get ready and we know she can run good time at Randwick,” Spicer said.
Snapdancer is likely also to get an invite to The Invitation over 1400m a week after The Everest.
Classique Legend to step out in Canterbury Everest trial
Les Bridge has got the all-clear to take the next step on Classique Legend’s path back to The Everest after scans during the week.
The 2020 winner will line up in what could be a mini-Everest barrier trial on Thursday with Nature Strip, Lost And Running and Mazu all scheduled to have a hit-outs at Canterbury.
“He has been going well on the track and we are guided by the vets with him and they are happy, so he will trial next,” Bridge said. “I’d probably like to give him a couple of runs into the Everest because he had a long time off.”
Godolphin’s top seed Paulele will trial at Warwick on Monday as the preparations for the $15 million sprint on October 15 really get into action.
Les Bridge with 2020 The Everest winner Classique Legend.Credit:Getty
Eduardo and Masked Crusader will take the racing option as the Sydney Sprint Series, which carries a $6m prize for the winner, begins with the Concorde Stakes at Randwick on Saturday.
Team Hawkes took Masked Crusader to the races at Rosehill on Saturday and Michael Hawkes believes the sprinter is in career-best shape.
“He is ready to go, you’ll see him next week and be impressed,” Hawkes said.
Zaaki leads star cast to start spring
The first Saturday of spring won’t lack for star power at Randwick with Zaaki using the Tramway Stakes as kick-off point again and Champagne Stakes winner She’s Extreme joining the other three-year-old fillies in the Furious Stakes.
Zaaki had a track gallop with Numerian, which could run in the Chelmsford Stakes, on Friday and trainer Annabel Neasham believes he can be dynamic at 1400m.
Anthony Cummings was happy with reports from She’s Extreme race-day workout at Rosehill on Saturday and mapped out a group 1 program with the filly.
“She’s in great shape and we won’t be scared of taking on the boys in the Golden Rose after the Furious,” he said. “There is the Flight Stakes and then we have three options on the same day three weeks after that depending on what she is showing.
“She could run in the Spring Champion, the Invitation or the Callander-Presnell Stakes all for a million or more; it is amazing money and why she will stay in Sydney.”
Racing NSW chief steward to split into two roles
Racing NSW is set to split the position of chief steward into at least two different roles as they search for a replacement for Hong Kong-bound Marc Van Gestel.
It is likely there will be a race-day chief steward, separate from the integrity role dealing with horse welfare and matters away from the track.
Racing NSW has already approached interstate stewards and stewards from other codes in NSW about taking the role without much success.
The drain on the stewards panel ranks continues with two cadets leaving the thoroughbreds to take roles in greyhound racing in the past week.
Meanwhile, Racing Australia is close to appointing a chief executive with former Racing NSW IT chief and Tasracing chief executive Paul Eriksson the front-runner.
McGuaran set to become ATC chairman
Peter McGauran and Tim Hale will take the leadership of the Australian Turf Club board this week as they are elected unopposed to the chairman and vice-chairman roles.
With Matthew McGrath and Julia Ritchie coming to end of their terms on the board, it will be a new look at the top.
McGrath has steered the ATC through a tough couple of years, but his lasting legacy will be revitalising the Canterbury night circuit.
He will be replaced as chairman by the Racing NSW-appointed McGauran, a former federal Liberal minister and Racing Australia chief executive, with Hale as his deputy.
Montefilia starts Cup campaign in Chelmsford
Wily trainer David Payne’s dream of winning the Melbourne Cup with Montefilia will have a starting point in Saturday’s Chelmsford Stakes.
A winner of South Africa’s best race, the Durban July, Payne says a Melbourne Cup win would cap his career.
“It’s the race I have wanted to win since I got here. It is the biggest race I have seen,” Payne said. “I think I might have the horse in this mare. She has come back really well and I will keep her in Sydney until the Caulfield Cup because the money is so good, but the Melbourne Cup is the goal.”
Montefilia is already a four-time group 1 winner and Payne feels she is stronger than in the autumn when she beat Verry Elleegant.
“She is fresh enough to run a really good mile, but I can’t wait to get to the longer trips because that is where she is at her best,” Payne said.
