Racehorse Sexy And I Moet winning at Tauranga. Photo / Race Images
A speed freak stands between trainer Stephen Marsh and a magical 10 minutes of black type racing today.
The Cambridge trainer can win the three-year-old features at both Ellerslie and Riccarton, with three reps in the Soliloquy Stakes in Auckland and the favourite Kiwi Skyhawk in the $100,000 War Decree Stakes in Christchurch.
The latter ran on well in a leader-dominated race at Te Rapa last start and looks ideally suited by the step up to 1600m tomorrow with Wiremu Pinn in the saddle.
“He looks my best of the weekend, he is ready for the 1600m,” says Marsh, who trained Burn To Shine to win the War Decree last season.
He meets an improving filly in Raziah, who was way too good for many of their opposition tomorrow when she won the Barneswood Farm Stakes last start so it will be a major surprise if the War Decree winner isn’t trained in Cambridge.
But for all the Cambridge firepower in the $175,000 Soliloquy at Ellerslie, they will have to overpower flying Matamata filly Alabama Lass.
She has been stunning in both starts this spring but steps up to 1400m, which may not suit quite as ideally as 1200m but she is so good it may not matter.
Alabama Lass will jump from the outside barrier in the 10-filly field but looks ready-made for the new Ellerslie which puts a premium on leg speed.
She has shown she can cruise outside a good speed and change gears, which she may have to attempt again tomorrow with Kitty Flash having been an impressive all-the-way winner of her last two starts and drawn inside her.
Marsh is hoping the two quick fillies annoy each other so one of his trio of Sexy And I Moet, Love Poem or Hitabell can take advantage.
“We realise how good Alabama Lass is, but I’m hoping she finds the 1400m a bit tougher,” says Marsh.
“She might not, she might be too good because she is the benchmark filly so far and Kitty Flash adds more speed to the race.
“But that could suit us. We have good draws and I can see my fillies sitting just in behind them and charging late.
“To be honest, I think mine will all be better up to 1600m next start but Saturday will be interesting.”
Love Poem was the best-performed last season of Marsh’s three reps tomorrow and returned with an easy win at Te Rapa last start but Sexy And I Moet was even more eye-catching, beating a race rival tomorrow in Archaic Smile at Tauranga last start.
“She has really come on and that was dominant how she beat a good filly last start,” says Marsh of Sexy And I Moet.
“We are giving Hitabell her throw at the stumps because she has only had the one start for a win but I can’t split the other pair.”
With the Soliloquy being the first shot at 1400m for many of these fillies, it is not only a prized Group 2 but a key guide to next month’s 1000 Guineas, with those fillies who struggle with the final 100m on Saturday unlikely to get their boarding pass for Christchurch in a few weeks.
Waiting for them all at Riccarton could be Captured By Love, who contests the Sarten Memorial at Te Rapa on Monday.
Marsh takes plenty of other solid chances to Ellerslie tomorrow, with Moet Down (R3, No.2) ready to go well fresh but in a quick field as the fillies and mares chase the lucrative Pearl Series Bonus.
Marsh also has a three-pronged attack on Race 5 but can’t separate El Arish, Navy Icon or Clew Bay, all of who shouldn’t be maidens for long.
Billy Lincoln rounds out the team in the last race but is expected to be improved with the run and up in distance next start.
The Ellerslie card also includes an open 1600m, which sees class acts Shamus and Habana using apprentice claims, while Race 4 is a juvenile race that will all but guarantee the winner a spot in the Karaka Million if eligible.
MOVING WEEKEND
The three-year-old races this weekend that will shape the spring:
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.