Moody to Let Karuta Queen Fly

The instructions from Peter Moody to Karuta Queen jockey Luke Nolen in the Silk Stocking (1200m) at the Gold Coast on Saturday will be plain and simple.

Karuta Queen runs in the Silk Stocking at the Gold Coast on Saturday. Photo by: Taron Clarke.

Just let her go.

The speedy mare will be out to bounce back from a 10th-place finish in the Group 2 Sapphire Stakes which Moody attributed to jockey Tommy Berry halting her natural style.

“I just thought Tommy [Berry] tried to restrain her a bit at Randwick,” Moody told Radio Sports National.

But there will be no restraining her this weekend, with Moody keen to see the former juvenile star bounding along in her natural free-running style in front.

“I want to see the Karuta Queen of old, I’d like to see her roll along four or five lengths in front,” Moody said.

It is the sprinter’s first trip back to the Gold Coast since she took out the 2011 Magic Millions Classic.

This is the first campaign Karuta Queen has been under Moody’s guidance and she began promisingly with a third-place finish in the Bob Hoysted Handicap and a runner-up to Black Caviar in the William Reid Stakes.

Karuta Queen is one three Moody-trained runners racing at the Gold Coast this weekend, with Lights Of Heaven and Voila Ici contesting the Group 2 Hollindale Stakes (1800m).

Lights Of Heaven is favourite to take out the Hollindale Stakes, a race she finished second in last year.

The five-year-old is being aimed at the Group 1 Doomben Cup (2000m) on May 18 and a title defence of both the Group 2 Eagle Farm Brisbane Cups.

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