Group 1 winning mare Cosmic Endeavour will kick off her Spring Carnival campaign in the Group 3 $150,000 William Hill Sprint Series Heat 1 Stakes (Cockram Stakes) (1200m) at Caulfield on Saturday.
Cosmic Endeavour will kick off her Spring Carnival campaign in the Cockram Stakes at Caulfield. Photo by Daniel Costello.
The Gai Waterhouse trained Cosmic Endeavour will be having her first run back after finishing fifth to Tulloch Lodge stablemate Amanpour in the Group 1 $1m Cellarbrations Queen Of The Turf Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on April 11, the second day of “The Championships’ during the 2015 Sydney Autumn Carnival.
Waterhouse has prepared the Northern Meteor mare for her return to the race track with two barrier trials at Randwick for a third over 840m on July 31 followed by a win over 1250m on August 10.
A start in the Group 1 WFA $400,000 New Zealand Bloodstock Memsie Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on Saturday had also been considered but Cosmic Endeavour will now take on the mares only under the set weights and penalties conditions over the 1200m.
“We decided that the mare’s race over 1200 metres would be a better option at this stage of her preparation than the Memsie,” a spokesman for the Waterhouse stable said.
“We’ve got races like the Sir Rupert Clarke and the Toorak Hcp on her program but we thought this was an ideal starting point.”
The Group 1 $400,000 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (1400m) is run at Caulfield on September 26 and the Group 1 $400,000 David Jones NBCF Toorak Handicap (1600m), also at Caulfield, is run on October 10.
Cosmic Endeavour has been allocated 59kg in the Cockram Stakes along with other Group 1 winners May’s Dream and Bounding who are among the twenty-eight nominations that the Melbourne Racing Club received for the Sprint Series Heat 1 Stakes.
Kerrin McEvoy has been books to ride Cosmic Endeavour who has recorded two Group 1 victories with wins in the $500,000 Sky Racing Tattersall’s Tiara (1400m) at Eagle Farm during the 2014 Brisbane Winter Carnival and then led all of the way to win the $500,000 Canterbury Stakes (1300m) at Randwick during this year’s Sydney Autumn Carnival.
Former New Zealand trained mare Bounding, now under the care of father – son training partnership of Peter and Paul Snowden, is also nominated for the Group 3 $150,000 The Heath 1100m Stakes (1100m).
While under the care Matamata trainer Ken Kelso, Bounding was able to win the 2014 Group 1 NZ$200,000 Sistema Railway Stakes (1200m) at Ellerslie.
The Darren Weir trained May’s Dream is the other Group 1 winner in the field and claimed her prize when she took out the 2014 Group 1 $400,000 Schweppes Oaks (2000m) at Morphettville.
