Group 1 bound filly Savanna Amour has been well supported in early betting for the Group 3 $150,000 Bletchingly Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield on Saturday.
Savanna Amour, above in gold colours, was been well supported in early betting for the Bletchingly Stakes at Caulfield. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.
The Queensland trained Savanna Amour will be taking on the older horses for the first time at weight for age but that hasn’t stopped her followers from shortening her price up from $14 at acceptance time on Wednesday to be marked at $9.50 on Thursday afternoon at Ladbrokes.com.au.
Melbourne Cup winning trainer John Meagher has a very high pinion of the Love Conquers All filly who will be turning four next week, and plans to use the Bletchingly Stakes as a stepping stone towards a start in the Group 1 $1m Memsie Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on September 2.
Savanna Amour is raced in part by Ontrack Thoroughbreds and Syndicate manager Grant Morgan was delighted that the prizemoney for this year’s Memsie Stakes had been doubled from $500,000 to $1 million.
“When we picked out the Memsie as her target it was worth $500,000 and then they boosted it to $1 million, so hopefully that can prove fortuitous for us,” Morgan told The Courier-Mail.
“The Memsie will be her Grand Final and we’re hoping a lot of her rivals won’t be as wound up, given they will have other targets later in the spring.
“She’s been wrapped in cotton wool since her Gold Coast win and I think she has improved physically and mentally.”
Savanna Amour has won four of her nine race starts and gained plenty of recognition with a nose win in the Group 2 $200,000 Angus Armanasco Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on February 25 and then made it two wins on the trot with another narrow victory in the Group 3 $125,000 Gold Coast Guineas (1200m) at the Gold Coast on May 6.
Savanna Amour has been prepared for her return to the race track with a win in a 1000m barrier trial at Doomben on July 11 and Golden Slipper winning jockey Ben Melham is certain to give her the run of the race from barrier six in the thirteen horse Bletchingly Stakes field.
The Mick Kent trained Supido heads the market order for the Bletchingly Stakes at $3.60 ahead of comeback sprinter Lankan Rupee at $4.40 while Robert Smerdon’s in-form sprinter Ability is the only other runner under the $10 mark at $8.
