Go Indy Go Has Right Crown Oaks Form

Go Indy Go made a slow start to her 2014 Spring Racing Carnival campaign, but trainer Leon Macdonald believes that she has now found the right 2014 Crown Oaks form heading into the Group 1 event at Flemington on Saturday.

Go Indy Go is set to start the 2014 Crown Oaks as favourite. Photo by: Jenny Barnes

Go Indy Go is set to start the 2014 Crown Oaks as favourite. Photo by: Jenny Barnes

Go Indy Go stamped herself as a filly to watch when she took out the Group 1 Champagne Stakes (1600m) at Royal Randwick on April 26, but she started her spring campaign with a very poor run in the Group 2 Danehill Stakes (1200m) at Flemington on September 13.

The Bernardini filly performed well without winning in the Group 2 Thousand Guineas Prelude (1400m) at Caulfield on September 28, the Group 1 Thousand Guineas (1600m) at Caulfield on October 11 and the Group 2 Moonee Valley Vase (2040m) on October 25; with Macdonald confident that the Group 1 filly is at peak fitness heading into the 2014 Crown Oaks.

“She finished the race off very strongly and I think that he is better suited at Flemington around the bigger stretch,” Macdonald said of Go Indy Go’s performance in the Moonee Valley Vase.

“She has been a little bit of a work in progress during the spring, but I think she is about as good now as she has been.

“We have our fingers crossed.

“She didn’t do as well as she could have in her spell and it just took her a little while to catch up, but I think she is there now or close to it.”

Go Indy Go will be stepping up to 2500 metres for the first time in her racing career in the Crown Oaks, but Macdonald is confident that the talented filly will be able to run out the testing staying trip strongly.

The Group 1 winning filly has generally been settled at the tail of the field in her race starts to date before running through the line, but the Adelaide-based trainer is hoping that jockey Chad Schofield can settle the three-year-old closer to the speed in the Crown Oaks this afternoon.

“She looks as though she will and she has really thrown to her mother,” Macdonald said.

“Her mother won three races over 2400 metres and she was a strong Zabeel mare, so she probably has the credentials to stay well.

“I don’t think she will be as far back as she has been getting.

“I think in the Vase she was reasonably placed going around the back, but she lost touch with them a little bit coming around the side.

“Today over the 2500 metres she can sit a little bit closer.”

Go Indy Go is currently available at 2014 Crown Oaks odds of $4.40 and is a narrow favourite from Lumosty ($5), Crafty ($6.50), Thunder Lady ($7) and Set Square ($7).

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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.