Adelaide trained mare Runway Star will need the run when she steps out in the Group 3 $150,000 Bletchingly Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield on Saturday, according to her jockey Dom Tourneur.
Runway Star, above, will kick off her Spring Carnival campaign in the Bletchingly Stakes at Caulfield. Photo by Adrienne Bicknell.
Tourneur was aboard Runway Star at her last two starts during the Autumn Carnival before she was sent to the spelling paddock and the leading Adelaide rider will make the trip to Melbourne to continue his association with the rising six year old mare.
But Tourneur is warning her followers that she might need the run in the Bletchingly Stakes to bring her up to her peak fitness after pulling up big in a recent Murray Bridge barrier trial when second over 900m.
“I think whatever she does, she’ll improve on, but we want to see how she’ll shape up and how she’ll compete against that level heading into the spring,” Tourneur told Racenet.
“She felt good in the trial. We didn’t ask her to do too much. She had a good little blow after the trial so there’s natural improvement in her.”
“She’s a cracking horse to have around the stable and you’d like to have a stable full of horses like her. She’s genuine and she just has a go every time she gets out there.”
Runway Star is the winner of six of her eighteen starts and kicked off he racing career with two wins for Sydney trainer Gerald Ryan.
The Northern Meteor mare was then transferred to the Peter Moody stable at Caulfield and was able to score first up for her new stable with a win in a BenchMark 84 Handicap over 1000m at Sandown in February, 2015.
Moody was able to win two more races with Runway Star when she took out the 2015 and 2016 Listed $80,000 Matrice Stakes (1200m) at Morphettville before the mare was transferred to Adelaide’s leading trainer Phillip Stokes in March.
Runway Star had three runs for Stokes during the Adelaide Autumn Carnival for a first up third to Nostradamus in the Group 3 $120,000 Hughes Chauffeured Limousines R N Irwin Stakes (1100m) at Morphettville on April 23 followed by a sixth to Precious Gem in the Group 1 $400,000 UBET Classic (Registered as Robert Sangster Stakes) (1200m) at Morphettville on May 7 with Tourneur in the saddle.
Tourneur was aboard again at her final run before a break for a win in the Group 3 $120,000 Proud Miss Stakes (1200m) at Morphettville on May 21.
Runway Star has a good first up record of four wins from six attempts but will be facing a tough line up on Saturday with the well performed Fast ‘N’ Rocking, Lord Of The Sky, Smokin’ Joey and The Cleaner among the nominations for the Bletchingly Stakes.
