Samaready will not be joining the leading sprinters in Australia in the Group 1 VRC Sprint Classic (1200m) at Flemington on Saturday but trainer Mick Price has revealed that he plans to set the classy mare for the Group 1 Robert Sangster Classic (1200m) and Group 1 The Goodwood (1200m) in Adelaide when she returns to the races in the autumn.
Samaready will have the opportunity to add another Group 1 win to her racing resume when she returns from the spelling paddock in the autumn. Photo by: Race Horse Photos Australia
Samaready returned to races after more than a year on the sidelines with a strong win in Theshark.com.au Stakes (1100m) and stamped herself as one of the leading sprinters in Australia with a dominant victory in the Group 1 Moir Stakes (1200m).
The More Than Ready mare started the Group 1 Manikato Stakes (1200m) as a clear favourite but never looked comfortable in the run and was found to have suffered internal bleeding after the race.
Price told Sky Racing HQ that he had the option to enter the four-year-old in the 2013 VRC Sprint Classic field but said that he was happy to send the mare to the spelling paddock after what had been a brief, yet successful, spring campaign.
“She had an internal bleed based on the scope that was done on the night at Moonee Valley,” Price said.
“She is a multiple Group 1 winner and the only race that we were going to run her in was the Patinack if we went ahead.
“I wasn’t a 100% happy with her and I thought she pulled up with the edge off her.
“I just didn’t feel comfortable going to the Patinack, they are very patient Vinery and the boys, so she has gone to the paddock.
“She had a long break and did a lot of work and a bit of racing so I was happy to put her out.”
Price believes that Samaready’s impressive victory in the Moir Stakes showed that she could compete with the leading sprinters in Australia and has already started making plans for her 2014 Autumn Racing Carnival campaign.
The leading trainer has both the Group 1 Robert Sangster Classic and Group 1 The Goodwood on the agenda for the Blue Diamond winner, the same double completed by Black Caviar in 2011 and Platelet in 2012, and believes that his star galloper is perfectly suited to these Group 1 events.
“She should have a nice autumn; there are some good races for her in autumn especially those ones in Adelaide and I don’t think that we will have any dramas with her
“She is good enough to compete with the best sprinters that we have in Australia at the moment; she just has to be right on the day.”
