Leading Sydney trainer Chris Waller will wait until tomorrow morning before he decides whether Red Tracer will contest the 2014 Coolmore Classic at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday.
Red Tracer finished second behind Appearance in the Coolmore Classic last year and remains a chance to contest the 2014 edition of the race. Photo by: Steve Hart
Red Tracer has been allocated the top-weight of 59kg, by Racing New South Wales handicappers, for the Coolmore Classic and Waller is wary of backing the daughter of Dane Shadow up just seven days after she finished a tough third behind Appearance in the Group 1 Canterbury Stakes (1300m) at Royal Randwick.
Waller told TVN this morning that he will access the condition of Red Tracer tomorrow and will analyse the likely make-up of the Coolmore Classic field before he decides whether to include the star mare in the acceptances for the Group 1 event.
“I’ll just how she is Wednesday morning and I will look at the weights to see what can beat her down at the weights,” Waller said.
“I’m not too keen to give her a tough run two weeks in a row, especially when she is giving away weight to handy mares.
“That would be the basic decision factor I suppose.”
Red Tracer started her 2014 Sydney Autumn Racing carnival campaign with a comfortable victory in the Group 2 Millie Fox Stakes (1300m) at Rosehill Gardens on March 1 and almost fell at the start of the Canterbury Stakes last Saturday before working home strongly in the final stages of the race.
Waller said that he was most impressed with the six-year-olds effort in the Canterbury Stakes and believes that she would have finished much closer to Appearance, if she did not run into trouble in the early stages of the race.
“It was very good run, she just got flattened at the start,” Waller said.
“She was just half a length slow and that puts you in an awkward spot and Glen Boss’s horse (Streama) has come across and just squashed her.
“There was bit of interference from the inside horse as well and it has cost her running a lot closer; no disrespect to the winner who did a great job and has done so all prep.
“She will get another chance, Red Tracer, at Appearance I’m sure.”
Red Tracer will be contesting the Coolmore Classic for the third year in a row, if Waller elects to run her in the Group 1 event, after finishing ninth behind Ofcourseican in 2012 and a narrow second behind Appearance in last year’s race.
