Co-trainer Tom Dabernig has confirmed that Sacred Eye will likely take on the colts and geldings in the 2016 Australian Guineas at Flemington on March 5.
Sacred Eye will have the chance to record a maiden win at Group 1 level during her upcoming autumn campaign. Photo by: Ultimate Racing Photos
Sacred Eye was sent to the spelling paddock following her flat seventh in the Group 1 Crown Oaks (2500m) at Flemington on November 5, but she has been back in work for just under two months and was given a testing jump out at Lindsay Park this morning.
Dabernig told Racing Ahead that Sacred Eye would likely return to the races in the Group 3 The Vanity (1400m) at Flemington on February 20 and would then likely press on to the Group 1 Australian Guineas (1600m) before she heads to Sydney for a possible Group 1 Australian Oaks (2400m) campaign.
“Sacred Eye has a jump out at the farm this morning,” Dabernig said.
“She is in good order and we are possibly looking at kicking her off in The Vanity.
“If she runs well in The Vanity she will probably run in the Australian Guineas and we might look to Sydney after that.
“She looks to have come back well, you never know with those horses that run in Derby’s and Oaks and things how they will come back, but she has not had a lot of racing and she is a tough, sound filly.
“I am sure that she has another couple of wins in her.”
Sacred Eye made her racing debut with a comfortable victory in the Emsley Lodge Maiden Plate (1300m) at Geelong on September 1 and she produced fast-finishing performances for second in both the MRC Foundation Plate (1400m) at Caulfield on September 19 as well as the Group 2 Edward Manifold Stakes (1600m) at Flemington on October 4.
The High Chaparral filly claimed a maiden black-type race win when she beat the colts and geldings to take out the Group 3 Caulfield Classic (2000m) at Caulfield on October 17, but she was a big drifter in the lead-up to the Crown Oaks and she ran accordingly, with jockey Ryan Moore informing stewards after the race that the three-year-old wasn’t suited by the wet track.
David Hayes is chasing his third win in the Australian Guineas after previously taking out the race with King’s High (1989), future star stallion Zabeel (1990) and star filly Miss Finland (2007)– the dam of their current top filly Stay With Me.
