Mackay trainer Stu Kendrick will have no hesitation is running his smart filly Doubtfilly during the Brisbane Winter Carnival if she can win again at Doomben tomorrow.
Top Brisbane jockey Jim Byrne is replacing regular rider Aidrian Coombe who scored an impressive win on Doubtfilly in the QTIS two year old Fillies Handicap (1000m) at Eagle Farm on January 21.
Kendrick has the Group 2 $250,000 Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) at Eagle Farm in mind if his filly can take out tomorrow’s skyraacing.tv 2yo Handicap (1110m).
The Doomben track was rated a slow 7 on Friday afternoon and Kendrick is unsure how Doubtfilly will handle the rain affected track.
“On breeding she should handle it as her grand dam was by Woodman but it’s one of those unknowns until you try them but hopefully she’ll handle it,” Kendrick said.
“I want to get a good guide from her in this race before I decide,” he said.
“If she wins well and is strong at the finish, the Sires would prove a nice race for her in the winter.”
Kendrick was reluctant to travel Doubtfilly back to Mackay after her win at Eagle Farm because of the hot conditions at the time but said she will definitely go for a spell after this run.
He expects Doubtfilly to take a lot of benefit from her win at Eagle Farm as wet weather hindered her lead up work for that race.
Trainer Barry Baldwin is aiming Havatryst towards the back end of the Winter Carnival but first he has to overcome another horror barrier draw at Doomben.
Baldwin is happy to bypass the main sprint races of the Carnival and set Havatryst for the $175,000 Listed City Of Ipswich Eye Liner Stakes at Ipswich on June 16 and the $175,000 Listed Reed Property Group Glasshouse Handicap (1400m) two weeks later.
Havatryst has drawn the outside of seventeen in the Woolworths Handicap (1200m) and looks to have a tough task to turn his form around.
The four year old hasn’t won since November 5 when he beat Sway To Go in the Simon George and Sons Class 6 Plate (1200m) at Doomben but Baldwin said that he had genuine excuses at his last two runs.
“He was very disappointing in the George Moore but we found later he had a splint problem.
“After his Goldmarket failure I had him scoped and we discovered he had a throat infection,” Baldwin said.
Havatryst travelled just behind the leaders in the Group 3 George Moore Stakes (1200m) at Doomben on December 10 before finishing ninth then was well beaten when thirteenth to Spirit Of Boom in the Carlton Draught Goldmarket (1300m) at the Gold Coast on January 2.
Where as Havatryst has won on a slow track, Baldwin is uncertain how his filly Belle D’Amour will handle the wet conditions.
Belle D’Amour who is having her second run back from a throat operation made up some ground in the straight when eighth behind Schiffer in the Myer Magic Millions Sprint (1000m) at the Gold Coast on January 14.
“She had a wind problem last year and she had an operation to correct it straight after the carnival,” Baldwin said .
“”She’s by Jet Spur and she gives me the impression she’ll handle the wet.”
“For the time being we’re looking at QTIS races with her but if she measures up she’ll probably be aimed for some of the better fillies races during the winter,” he said.
