Golden Slipper winning jockey Blake Shinn is happy to stick with Victorian sprinter Malaguerra in Saturday’s Group 1 $600,000 Schweppes All Aged Stakes (1400m) at Randwick.
Blake Shinn and Malaguerra, above, will team up again in the All Aged Stakes at Randwick. Photo by Steve Hart.
Shinn had the choice of staying with the Lee and Anthony Freedman trained Malaguerra or riding the Gai Waterhouse trained English who he rode into third placing behind Chautauqua and Fell Swoop in the Group 1 $2.5m Darley T J Smith Stakes (1200m) at Randwick on day one of ‘The Championships’ on April 2.
Shinn had been aboard both gallopers at their previous starts and was most impressed with Malaguerra after steering him to an impressive win in the Group 3 $150,000 Star Kingdom Stakes (1200m) at Rosehill on March 26.
“I was very impressed with him last start. He got held up for a long way and when he got out he showed what an impressive sprint he has,” Shinn said.
Shinn also said that the weight issue came into the equation and under the weight for age conditions of the All Aged Stakes, four year old Malaguerra has to carry 59kg, a very comfortable weight for Shinn, while English, being a three year old filly, only has 54.5kg on her back.
“English had the light weight and I didn’t think there was much between them so I stuck with Malaguerra,” Shinn said.
The Freedman brothers have a very high opinion of Malaguerra who collected his fourth win on the trot with his Star Kingdom Stakes win and plans were put into place to head to Queensland after the Sydney Autumn Carnival for the Group 1 $2m AAMI Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) at Eagle Farm on June 11.
The Magnus gelding had won his previous three starts, two at Flemington last November and then resumed in the Autumn to win the Listed $120,000 ATA/Bob Hoysted Handicap (1000m) at Flemington on March 5.
“The plan is the Stradbroke. He is a very good young horse in form and they might find out how good he is,” Lee Freedman said.
The Chris Waller trained Press Statement currently heads the market order for the All Aged Stakes at $3.60 with Ladbrokes.com.au while Malaguerra is a firming second favourite at $4.40.
English is next in the betting at $4.60 ahead of Black Heart Bart at $6, Kermadec at $7, Goldstream at $14, Rebel Dane at $21 and Perignon at $31.
