Thousand Guineas hopeful Sweet Sherry is on the mend and co-trainer Troy Corstens is confident she will take her place in the Group 2 $200,000 Schweppes Thousand Guineas Prelude (1400m) at Caulfield on Saturday.
Sweet Sherry, above, is set to start in the Thousand Guineas Prelude at Caulfield. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.
Sweet Sherry was forced to miss a gallop on Tuesday after developing a high temperature over the weekend but Cortsens said that Bel Esprit filly has responded well to treatment and should be back to one hundred per cent in a couple of days.
“She is much better this morning and I am pretty happy with her,” Corstens told RSN’s Racing Ahead.
“Her temperature was back to normal on Monday. She missed the one gallop on Tuesday but I think she is pretty fit so it is not too bad.”
“As long as she makes more improvement between now and the next couple of days. We will pull a blood on Thursday and if that is okay she will take her spot.”
Corstens, who trains in partnership with his father Leon, said that he noticed that Sweet Sherry had left a little bit of feed over the weekend because of an elevated temperature but was quick to bounce back once the problem was treated.
“She left a dipper and a half of feed, probably about a kilo and a half which is very unusual for her and as we do we check the temperatures straight away and sure enough it was up a little bit,” Corstens said.
“So basically we have to treat her within the rules and she seems to have responded very well.”
Sweet Sherry scored a narrow win two starts back in a 1200m three year old fillies Plate at Moonee Valley and will go into the Thousand Guineas Prelude on the back of a third behind Merriest and Whispering Brook in the Listed $120,000 Mitchelton Wines Atlantic Jewel Stakes (1200m) at Moonee Valley on September 3.
Corstens said that Sweet Sherry didn’t have the best of luck last start at Moonee Valley and expects to get her chance to be amongst the prizemoney again.
“She was unlucky last start and her run before that was exceptionally good and I think she is on target to be one of the main players in the Thousand Guineas,” Corstens said.
While Corstens sounded confidence for the chances of Sweet Sherry this Saturday, he also sent out a query at her first try over 1400m.
“That is obviously a little question mark with her. She has never raced past 1200m and if you look at her pedigree, it probably suggests that she won’t get the mile, but stranger things have happened,” Corstens said.
Steven Arnold has kept the ride on Sweet Sherry and the filly has drawn the pole position in the fourteen horse field.
A good performance from Sweet Sherry on Saturday will see her progress to the Group 1 $500,000 Schweppes Thousand Guineas (1600m) at Caulfield two weeks later.
Sweet Sherry is listed as a $7 chance in early betting for the Thousand Guineas Prelude at Ladbrokes.com.au who have the Henry Dwyer trained filly Leotie as the $4.40 favourite.
The West Australian filly Whispering Brook is also well in contention in the betting at $4.60 just ahead of the Phillip Stokes trained filly Samara Dancer, also marked at $7 and Lindsay Park’s Sebring Dream at $8.
Market order for the Thousand Guineas Prelude at Ladbrokes.com.au: $4.40 Leotie, $4.60 Whispering Brook, $7 Samara Dancer, Sweet Sherry, $8 Sebring Dream, $9 I Am A Star, $13 La Luna Rossa, $16 Missrock, $26 Legless Veuve, Zamzam, $31 Inspired Estelle, $34 Royal Tithe, $51 Sword Of Light, $126 Flying Jess.
