Trainer Guy Walter will decide tonight if Group 1 winning mare Streama will kick off her Autumn Carnival campaign in the Group 1 $500,000 Black Caviar Lightning (1000m) at Flemington on Saturday.
Streama, red and white checks, beating Royal Descent in the George Main Stakes in the Spring. Photo by Steve Hart.
Walter will nominate Streama for the Black Caviar Lightning today and will also enter the Stratum mare in the Group 2 $175,000 Breeders Classic (1200m) at Rosehill with a leaning to staying in Sydney.
“We will make a decision about the Lightning on Monday but at the moment I think she might be better off staying in Sydney,” Walter told AAP.
“There’s the Breeders Classic at Rosehill on the same day or we may wait and run her in the Millie Fox.
“There are many options.”
The Group 2 $175,000 Millie Fox Stakes (1300m) at Rosehill on March 1 will give Walter two more weeks to get Streama fit for a first up assault if he goes against a start this weekend.
Streama hasn’t raced since finishing second to Boban in the Group 1 $500,000 The Star Epsom (1600m) at Randwick in October but Walter has given her two recent barrier trials at Warwick Farm.
The five year old mare won her third Group 1 at her previous run beating Royal Descent in the $350,000 George Main Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on September 21.
As a three year old Streama won the 2011 Group 1 $400,000 Coolmore Flight Stakes (1600m) at Randwick in the Spring and then went on to win the Group 1 $550,000 Patinack Farm Australian Oaks (2400m) at Randwick the following Autumn.
Walter has already claimed an early Autumn Carnival success with his other stable star Appearance winning first up at Randwick on Saturday in the Group 2 $200,000 SCSI Expressway Stakes (1200m).
Walter was toying with the idea of taking Appearance to Melbourne for the Group 1 $1m Lexus Newmarket Handicap (1200m) at Flemington on March 8 but is now leaning to staying in Sydney.
The trainer said he was more inclined to run her in the Group 2 $250,000 Apollo Stakes (1400m) at Randwick on February 22 and then the Group 1 $500,000 Chipping Norton Stakes (1600m) at Warwick Farm on March 8.
