Trainer Lee Curtis is not expecting any tearaway tactics from Lasqueti Spirit against glamour mare Winx in the Group 2 $250,000 Tattersalls Club Chelmsford Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on Saturday.
No tearaway tactics for Lasqueti Spirit, above, in the Chlemsford Stakes at Randwick. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.
The tearaway tactics proved successful for Lasqueti Spirit and jockey Brenton Avdulla when they combined for an upset win in the Group 1 $1m Crown Oaks (2500m) at Flemington during the 2016 Melbourne Cup Carnival.
Curtis can’t see those tactics working again at this level of racing but will still be instructing Jay Ford to take up forward position on the Beneteau mare in the Chelmsford Stakes.
“We’ll be going forward to some extent but there won’t be a massive tearaway,” Curtis told AAP.
Lasqueti Spirit’s only win has been in the Crown Oaks but she did run second to Winx on a heavy 9 track in the Group 1 $600,000 Chipping Norton Stakes (1600m) at Randwick during the 2017 Sydney Autumn Carnival.
Curtis can’t see that happening again on Saturday in the Chelmsford Stakes but would like to finish in front of or alongside of Winx’s stablemate Who Shot Thebarman to get a guide on how she is going in respect of looking forward to her chances in the Group 1 $750,000 The Metropolitan (2400m) at Randwick on September 30.
“We’ll get a pretty good guide off a horse like Who Shot Thebarman. We’ve always finished quite close to him in these races,” Curtis said.
“If we’re anywhere round him and he’s going all right we’ll be happy.”
Lasqueti Soirt has had one run back from a break when she failed to beat a runner home over the unsuitable distance of 1600m in the Listed $150,000 Aristocrat Technologies Hawkesbury Rowley Mile (1600m) at Hawkesbury on August 24.
Curtis was not worried about the first up run as Lasqueti Spirit has no previous first up form but is expecting her to show something as the distances get longer deeper into her Spring Carnival campaign.
“She’s got a shocking first-up record because the race was too short. She’s one-paced with no turn of foot,” Curtis said.
Lasqueti Spirit is one of the outsiders of the Chelmsford Stakes field at $91 at Ladbrokes.com.au while Winx sits at her usual spot at the top of the market order at $1.09.
