Karuta Queen will head to Melbourne to run in fillies races

Queanbeyan trainer Neville Layt had to be content with Karuta Queen’s fourth place finish in the Group 3 Run To The Rose last Saturday.

The speedy Not A Single Doubt filly led the field until the final stages of the race when she was unable to hold on against the top three-year-old boys of the season.

“She held her head up,” Layt said.

“I would have loved to have seen her have held together for another 50 metres and we might have finished in the placings.

“(But) she free flowed along and she did what she had to do.

“At the end of the day the boys were too strong for her.”

Karuta Queen was one of the early favourites to win last season’s Golden Slipper after her convincing victories in both the $$200,000 Wyong Magic Millions and the $2 million Gold Coast Magic Millions.

The filly ultimately finished tenth in the race and has been unable to win a run in her past four starts.

The three-year-old filly will now head to the Listed Heritage Stakes at Randwick Racecourse on September 17.

“She’ll go back to the Heritage now (1,100 metres) in three weeks’ time and she’ll give a bit of cheek in that,” Layt said.

The trainer will be looking to avoid the boys for the remainder of the spring carnival by heading down to Melbourne to run in restricted fillies only races.

“There’s a couple of three-year-old fillies races down in Melbourne and that’s where we’ll be heading,” Layt said.