Zahra Eyeing 2014 Caulfield Cup With Solicit

Trainer Simon Zahra has revealed that the 2014 Group 1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) is on the agenda for the impressive staying filly Solicit.

Solicit has returned to the stable of Simon Zahra and Matthew Ellerton ahead of her 2014 Autumn Racing Carnival campaign.

Solicit has returned to the stable of Simon Zahra and Matthew Ellerton ahead of her 2014 Autumn Racing Carnival campaign. Photo by: Race Horse Photos Australia

Solicit was one of the most consistent fillies during the 2013 Spring Racing Carnival and stamped herself as a stayer to watch with an extremely tough third place finish in the Group 1 Crown Oaks (2500m) at Flemington on November 7.

Zahra told Racing Victoria that he and training partner Matthew Ellerton have always believed that Solicit would be even better in the autumn and are confident that the Street Cry filly has the ability to be competitive at the highest level of racing during the 2014 Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival.

“She looked to us and though she was always going to be an autumn three-year-old,” Zahra said.

“It was a huge run (in the Crown Oaks) and a lot was made of the blinkers being put on but they did run six seconds outside of the course record so they weren’t going as quick as what people thought either.

“She was on a learning curve and it all probably popped up a bit quick for her that preparation.

“She should furnish into a nice stayer and hopefully, touch wood she can be a nice Caulfield Cup horse in the spring.”

Solicit made her racing debut under the care of Greg Eurell in Bendigo earlier this year and joined the Ellerton/Zahra stable before recording his maiden victory in the City Of Ballarat Plate (1100m) on September 1.

The three-year-old scored his first metropolitan win with a narrow victory over Longchamp Belle and May’s Dream in the Best Tote Plate (1200m) at Moonee Valley on September 14 and made his debut at Group level with a third place finish in the Edward Manifold Stakes (1610m).

Solicit finished second behind Arabian Gold in the Listed Ethereal Stakes (2000m) at Caulfield on October 19 and finished in the placings in the Group 2 Wakeful Stakes (2000m) at Flemington on Victoria Derby Day, despite over racing in the early stages of the race, before producing her impressive front-running performance in the Crown Oaks.

Zahra and Ellerton have never previously had a runner in the Caulfield Cup and are chasing their first Group 1 victory in Victoria since they took out the 2010 edition of the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (1400m) with Response.

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Thomas Hackett

Thomas is a passionate and opinionated racing journalist and punter who has been obsessed with horse racing since he backed Saintly to win the 1996 Melbourne Cup. An international racing enthusiast, he has his finger on the pulse of racing news not just from Australia but all around the world.