Leading New Zealand trainer Roger James has revealed that Lady Cumquat will be transferred to a Melbourne-based stable ahead of the 2014 Spring Racing Carnival.
Lady Cumquat finished third behind Arabian Gold in the Adrian Knox Stakes during the 2014 Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival. Photo by: Steve Hart
Lady Cumquat stamped herself as a filly to watch when she scored an impressive two lengths victory in the Group 3 Manawatu Classic (2000m) at Awapuni on March 29 earlier this year and made her Australian racing debut with a strong third behind Arabian Gold and Missvonn in the Group 3 Adrian Knox Stakes (2000m) at Royal Randwick on April 12.
James told Racing Ahead that he was looking forward to bringing Lady Cumquat back to Australia for the Spring Racing Carnival and was not happy that the daughter of Duke Of Marmalade had been removed from his stable.
“Lady Cumquat was in pre-training ready to come back to the stable around now and I have just learnt this morning that the owners have decided to transfer to a Melbourne stable,” James said.
“That is very disappointing for me because I thought that she was a filly with enormous potential.”
While Melbourne Cup contender Silent Achiever will be the leading horse for James during the 2014 Spring Racing Carnival, he is hoping to bring a team of horses to Australia and talented filly Katie’s Cove is one horse set to make the trip across the Tasman.
Katie’s Cover made her racing debut with a most impressive second place finish behind Chautauqua in the Group 3 Hawkesbury Guineas (1400m) on May 3, after missing the start by two lengths and was found to be lame after beating home get a single runner at Royal Randwick on May 24.
James said that he had given Katie’s Cove plenty of time in the spelling paddock to get over the minor injury and revealed that the rising four-year-old will return to trackwork shortly to being preparations for her spring campaign.
“Katie’s Cove is still in the paddock,” James said.
“We have a little hiccup with her, to be fair she is a very big filly by Zabeel and I thought it was a bonus that we got what we did as a three-year-old.
“She had a little hiccup, nothing of any major concern, but I decided when we came home to give her three months out.
“She is due to start work shortly.”
Silent Achiever will arrive in Australia ahead of the Group 1 Memsie Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on August 30.
