Adelaide To Resume In Sky High Stakes

Coolmore Australian Racing Manager James Bester has confirmed that Cox Plate winner Adelaide will return to racing in the Group 3 Sky High Stakes (2000m) before stepping up to Group 1 level for the 2015 Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

Adelaide has remained in Australia after he became the first Northern Hemisphere-trained horse to win the Cox Plate. Photo by: Sarah Ebbett

Adelaide has remained in Australia after he became the first Northern Hemisphere-trained horse to win the Cox Plate. Photo by: Sarah Ebbett

Adelaide made his Australian racing debut with an outstanding victory in the Group 1 Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley on October 25 and the $4 million Queen Elizabeth Stakes was immediately earmarked as the autumn target for the Galileo entire.

Bester told Sky Racing HQ that there have been plenty of discussion between Coolmore and new trainer Chris Waller about the best path to follow with Adelaide during the 2015 Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival and he believes that the revamped Sky High Stakes that will now be won under set weights plus penalties conditions two weeks before the Queen Elizabeth Stakes was the ideal lead-up race for the two-time Group 1 winner.

“That is pretty much set in stone,” Bester said.

“Ideally we would go for the Queen Elizabeth at The Championships and one great thing about that is that they have now introduced the Sky High Stakes as the perfect lead-up into that.

“They have changed the conditions of the Sky High to make it a set weights plus penalties race, much like the Turnbull, and it is two weeks before the Queen Elizabeth.

“As he goes along that could all change, but at this stage that could all change.

“Previously a horse like It’s A Dundeel would have had to go the 2400 of the BMW or they might have had to up from the Ryder and I just think that two weeks before the $4 million race to have something like the Sky High is a great initiative.”

Adelaide was sent straight to the spelling paddock following his historic victory in the Cox Plate and Bester confirmed that the Northern Hemisphere four-year-old had settled in well to his new environment.

Bester revealed that Waller had visited Adelaide yesterday and he said that the leading Sydney trainer will do everything possible to make sure that the talented entire can acclimatize to Australian training environment; with Waller set to make a trip to Ireland to receive guidance from Aidan O’Brien on how to get the best out of Adelaide.

“He came straight there from the Cox Plate and he settled nicely,” Bester said.

“Chris Waller came to see him yesterday just to see how he was settling in and to ask some advice on how to go forward now because obviously the horse has to transition from his previous life and paddock life at Coolmore.

“Chris being the professional that he is had advice on the horses feeding and a lot of things so that he transitions well into stable life.

“We saw in quarantine what a magnificently adaptable horse he is and he didn’t turn a hair as usual.”

Adelaide is likely to return to Europe for the 2015 Royal Ascot Meeting and will have the opportunity to become the first stallion to record a Group 1 victory on three different continents.

About The Author

Thomas Hackett

Thomas is a passionate and opinionated racing journalist and punter who has been obsessed with horse racing since he backed Saintly to win the 1996 Melbourne Cup. An international racing enthusiast, he has his finger on the pulse of racing news not just from Australia but all around the world.