Pride Tempted to Run Kentucky Miss in San Domenico

Trainer Joe Pride is facing a dilemma of where to run his promising filly Kentucky Miss this Saturday with a small field for Sydney’s San Domenico Stakes a tempting option.

Joe Pride

Joe Pride is tempted to run his filly Kentucky Miss against star colt Capitalist in Sydney on Saturday. Photo: Daniel Costello.

Warwick Farm-based Pride has dually accepted his nicely-bred daughter of Foxwedge for this weekend across two states.

She is in the mix for both the $150,000 Group 3 San Domenico Stakes (1100m) at Rosehill Gardens as well as Melbourne’s $150,000 Group 3 Quezette Stakes (1100m) at Caulfield Racecourse – known this year as the Winslow Group Stakes.

“I’ll accept in both places and wait and see what barrier she draws in Melbourne,” Pride told AAP on Tuesday before final acceptances for the weekend’s early spring lead-up races.

A winner of two of her six starts to date, Kentucky Miss was last seen backing up from a 1000m win at Wyong to finish fifth to the Lindsay Park-trained Hinchinbrook colt Derryn in a two-years-old handicap at Caulfield over the same distance in late July.

Kentucky Miss has had three previous Group race assignments, her latest back in March at Rosehill when sixth behind Calliope as a 21/1 shot in the Group 2 Magic Night Stakes (1200m).

If she heads to Caulfield for the second time in as many starts for Saturday’s P.B. Lawrence Stakes Day support act, she will be up against a field of 15 fellow three-year-old fillies in the Quezette.

Craig Newitt is on standby for the ride, Kentucky Miss drawing ideally in barrier three in a line-up headlined by the likes of the Shane Nichols-trained I Am A Star and Modern Wonder for Leon & Troy Corstens.

While the barrier draw was to be the deciding factor for Pride, he could still be seriously considering a clash with Peter & Paul Snowden’s returning Golden Slipper winner Capitalist in the San Domenico.

“It will probably come down to that [the barrier draw],” he said yesterday.

“But if there are only going to be five or six runners in the San Domenico then that’s tempting.

“It’s important for her to get black-type and Rosehill might be the best opportunity to do that.

“I’m not saying she can beat Capitalist but she could definitely run a place.”

The race attracted only six runners and Kentucky Miss has drawn the rails in the set weights plus penalties clash where glamour colt Capitalist is the odds-on favourite to win first-up ahead of the $1 million Group 1 Golden Rose (1400m) back at Rosehill Gardens on September 10.

As well as barriers and field sizes, Pride is also taking into consideration track conditions when making the final call on where to run his filly.

She has winning form on both Soft and Heavy going, and with the rain in Sydney causing wetter tracks than the current Good (4) rating at Caulfield, the San Domenico Stakes comes into the spotlight again.

“She’s up and running and is having her third start of the preparation and is up and going before the others,” Pride said.

 

“And she definitely likes wet tracks so there are a few things in her favour.”

About The Author

Lucy Henderson

Lucy is an experienced horse racing journalist that has been a crucial member of the horseracing.com.au team for the better part of a decade. She has taken great delight in covering champion mares Black Caviar and Winx throughout their careers and always has a soft spot for a winning filly.