Silent Achiever has returned to work at the Cambridge-based Kingsclere Stables of Roger James and could be set for the Group 1 Melbourne Cup (3200m) during her 2014 Spring Racing Carnival campaign.
The Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup are all on the agenda for Silent Achiever during the 2014 Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival. Photo by: Steve Hart
Silent Achiever was sent to the spelling paddock after she finished fourth behind It’s A Dundeel in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) at Royal Randwick on April 19 and James told Racing Ahead this morning that the daughter of O’Reilly had clearly relished her time in the spelling paddock.
“She has done very well,” James said.
“She looks big and burly and she was certainly ready to start work.”
The Melbourne Cup was the ultimate goal for Silent Achiever during the 2013 Spring Racing Carnival, but she was ruled out of the race after she suffered cuts to both her hind legs during her eighth place finish in the Group 1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) on October 19.
At this stage, Silent Achiever will be sent for another tilt at ‘the race that stops a nation’, but James said that he will wait until the weights are allocated for both the Caulfield Cup and Melbourne Cup before he makes a decision on the 2014 Spring Racing Carnival path of the rising six-year-old; with the Group 1 Cox Plate (2040m) also on the agenda for the classy mare.
“She will just come quietly through and she will go into the Memsie without a trial,” James said.
“I will use that as a trial basically and kick-off from there.
“I am undecided as to my path, I would like to see the weights for the Cups before I tie her down, and the Cox Plate has got to be a consideration this year.
“I would like to see how we are weighted in both the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups before I make that decision.”
Silent Achiever was one of the star performers of the 2014 Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival and scored two wins at Group 1 level after taking out the Retina Specialists Handicap (1500m) and Group 1 New Zealand Stakes (2000m) in New Zealand.
The five-year-old ran down Carlton House in the shadows of the posts to take out the Group 1 Ranvet Stakes (2000m) at Rosehill Gardens on March 22 and she upset It’s A Dundeel and Fiorente to win the Group 1 The BMW (2400m) at the same venue a fortnight later.
Silent Achiever was unable to record a race win during her 2013 Spring Racing Carnival campaign, but took out the Group 2 Crystal Mile (1600m) at Moonee Valley on Cox Plate Day in 2012.
