English installed as favourite for The Shorts

First up specialist English has been installed as the early favourite for the Group 2 $200,000 Bowermans Office Furniture Shorts (1100m) at Randwick on Saturday.

English, above, has been installed the favourite for the The Shorts at Randwick. Photo by Steve Hart.

English, above, has been installed the favourite for the The Shorts at Randwick. Photo by Steve Hart.

Ladbrokes.com.au have English marked at $2.40 for her first appearance since winning the Group 1 $600,000 Schweppes All Aged Stakes (1400m) at Randwick during the Sydney Autumn Carnival.

English won on debut in a Kembla Grange two year old maiden in January 2015 and then won first up again after a long break in the Group 2 $500,000 Hyland Race Colours Challenge Stakes (1000m) at Randwick on March 5.

The Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott trained mare will be trying to keep her first up record intact and has been prepared her for her comeback with two winning barrier trials at Randwick on August 19 and September 5.

“She does her best racing fresh as we saw last preparation and I think she is a great winning chance on Saturday and we would like to see her return a winner,” co-trainer Adrian Bott told racing.com.

Bott said that English has returned to the stables in great order following her short break and the stable is keen to see her back at the races.

“She has come along super and I am really excited to see her make a return to the track,” Bott said.

“Her performances have been there for everyone to see last preparation and particularly in her trials this time in.”

“She has come back in sensational order. She is still her usual self, she has an explosive turn of foot and hopefully we see every bit of that again on Saturday.”

“She has definitely made the mental improvement there but physically she is always a very delicate filly, there is not a huge amount of her but she is very well put together and obviously she is a very sharp type.”

Bott said that English would have a couple of runs in Sydney and after The Shorts will run in the Group 2 $300,000 Premiere Stakes (1200m) at Randwick on October 1 before heading to Melbourne with the Group 1 $1m Manikato Stakes (1200m) at Moonee Valley on October 21 on the agenda.

“She will have a couple of runs up in Sydney, The Shorts on Saturday and most likely followed by the Premier Stakes before coming down for a couple of the key feature sprint races in Melbourne,” Bottt said.

“The Manikato will definitely be one of them. If she returns as well as we think she has in Sydney and she prove herself up there, she will definitely be making her way down towards that race.”

Tommy Berry is back aboard English in The Shorts and the mare has drawn one from the outside at barrier ten.

Early market order for The Shorts at Ladbrokes.com.au: $2.40 English, $6 Clearly Innocent, $8.50 Japoisme, Kaepernick, $9 Dothraki, $10 Ball Of Muscle, $17 Takedown, $21 Boss Lane, Sarjevo, $41 Howmuchdoyouloveme, $51 Smart Volatility.

About The Author

Mark Mazzaglia

Mark is a passionate journalist with a life-time involvement in the racing industry. He spent many years as an analyst and form expert at the Courier Mail and also has hands-on experience working with some of Queensland’s top trainers.