Last Friday night’s brilliant Moonee Valley winner Tawteen will test her speed again in the Group 1 $500,000 Black Caviar Lightning (1000m) at Flemington on February 21.
Tawteen will be tested in the Black Caviar Lightning for a possible trip to Dubai. Photo by Race Horse Photos Australia.
Tawteen showed all her blistering speed to record an all the way win in the $55,000 Jeep 55 Second Challenge Heat 10 (955m) in the sizzling time of 55.76 seconds.
Winning rider Stephen Baster sent the Stratum filly straight to the front and the $1.60 favourite held off all challenges to post a one length victory over Settlers Road and Beach Front.
Co-trainer David Hayes is keen to test Tawteen against Group 1 company down the Flemington straight and a competitive performance will see her join stablemate Tashbeeh at the Dubai World Cup Carnival.
Hayes has picked out the Group 1 US$1m Al Quoz Sprint (1000m) at Meydan in Dubai on March 28 for Tawteen while Tashbeeh will contest the Listed US$125,000 Meydan Classic (1400m) on February 26 before tackling the Group 2 US$2m UAE Derby (1900m) on March 28.
“I’m going to put her on trial for the World Cup night in the Lightning,” Hayes said.
“If she runs well in the Lightning – she has to finish one, two or three – we might gain an invite to the 1000-metre Group One up the straight in Dubai.
“She’s not as good first-up as she is second-up and she’s won five out of seven recently so we’re going to throw her in the deep end and look at the Lightning,” Hayes told RSN’s Correct Weight.
“I thought she was very good on Friday night. I was trying to win the Jeep and I told Steve to let her rip and I think it told a bit at the finish.
“There was a savage headwind in the straight and with her high speed early against some pretty fast fillies her last 200 probably wasn’t as good as what it needed to be to get the Jeep.”
Tawteen and Tashbeeh are both owned by Hayes’ biggest owner Shiekh Hamdan and he is keen to have them race for him over the Dubai World Cup Carnival.
Hayes, who trains in partnership with Tom Dabernig, said he would train the three year olds while that were in Dubai but said that there was a good chance they would continue onto England where they would join an English stable.
“I’ll train them in Dubai and then hopefully they’ll come back to Australia but there’s a chance they may not because the Sheikh might want to campaign them in England,” Hayes said.
“Tashbeeh’s locked in. He’s in terrific form and I would rate a great chance in the C.S. Hayes Stakes (1400m) and probably a 10/1 chance in the Guineas if he wasn’t going to Dubai.
“There’s two terrific races in Dubai for him and the Sheikh’s my biggest owner. When I was in Dubai last year talking to him I said that I’d try to get a couple of these promising young horses to Dubai this year and Tashbeeh and Tawteen have come to the fore.”
Tawteen is likely to come up against some stiff opposition in the Black Caviar Lightning including sprinting superstar Lankan Rupee, Group 1 winner Tiger Tees and the very promising Deep Field.
