Racing: Trainer Stephen Autridge wants Needle And Thread to ask questions of NZ Oaks favourite Amarelinha

Needle And Thread, winning the Group 2 Royal Stakes at Ellerslie in January, will challenge Amarelinha. Photo / Trish Dunell

Trainer Stephen Autridge wants his high class filly Needle And Thread to ask questions of NZ Oaks favourite Amarelinha.

And the most obvious of those questions is: can you stay?

Autridge and training partner Kris Shailer prepare the $6.50 second favourite for the $400,000 classic at Trentham on Saturday for which Amarelinha has opened the $1.55 elect.

Amarelinha has beaten Needle And Thread both times they have met, thrashing her in the Ellis Classic at Te Rapa last month but only just nosing her out in the Sunline Vase at Ellerslie 11 days ago.

Autridge says what he saw in, and after, that race suggested to him Needle And Thread has a shot at beating the glamour filly.

"If you watch that race [Sunline Vase], Amarelinha was already pulled up by the gap [100m after the winning post] whereas our filly kept on going right around the bend after the line," says Autridge.

"Now I know she [Amarelinha] had a harder run but the way our filly kept going and the way she has raced all summer I am sure she will stay. So I want her to go out there and find out whether Amarelinha can stay.

"If she can stay and she is too good for us that is okay but we have to ask the question of her."

Needle And Thread has the ideal draw to attempt that, with barrier four seemingly giving her the chance to control the race.

"I am not saying she has to be in front all the way but from that barrier I'd like to see her handy," says Autridge.

"And maybe that will mean she is in front. But even if she isn't I'd like to see her pressing on by say the 700m mark and putting them to the test.

"If she does that then Amarelinha [barrier 12] will need to come wide to catch her or be ridden for luck at some stage.

"Either of those suit me because if we are handy we have less chance of bad luck that her."

Those tactics almost earned Needle And Thread the win in the Sunline Vase but not only did Amarelinha cover a lot more ground and beat her, she did so not looking entirely comfortable on the very wet track.

So if luck becomes a factor in the Oaks then Needle And Thread might be getting a decent head start from the favourite starting the last 600m, whether that is enough could come down to whether the favourite is quite as potent at the end of 2400m as she has been in her other races.

The reality is with the Sunline being run on a slow8 the 2100m took 2:14 so on the expected firm track on Saturday, Amarelinha is only going to need to keep up the same level of gallop for 14 more seconds to handle the extra distance.

And her Ellis Classic win suggested she might have a bit too much natural speed for Needle And Thread, and her other rivals, on a good surface.

One filly neither will have to worry about is Tokorangi who didn't accept for the Oaks on Wednesday after indications earlier in the week she would.

Opie Bosson, who will ride Amarelinha, will jump back on Brando for Saturday's other three-year-old feature the Wellington Guineas, with the Te Akau stable No1 rider also having the option of Need I Say More.

That suggest Brando is the stable's top chance in the Group 2 after returning from a below par trip to Melbourne where he was to contest the Australian Guineas but that canned following a poor lead-up run.

The St Leger, Cuddles Stakes and Lightning Handicap round out one of Trentham's strongest meetings of the season.