Lumosty failed to fire when she was beaten as favourite in the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap (1350m), but assistant trainer Stuart Webb is confident that the filly can return to her best form in the 2015 Tattersall’s Tiara at the Gold Coast on Saturday.
Lumosty stamped herself as a genuine Stradbroke Handicap and Tattersall’s Tiara when she recorded two dominant victories in Heats of the All Victorian Sprint Series at Flemington on May 9 and May 23, but she was caught wide throughout the Stradbroke Handicap at Doomben on June 6 and was never able to get into the race.
Webb told Racing Ahead this morning that the Stradbroke Handicap performance of Lumosty may have been better than it looks on bare form and he believes that the daughter of Fastnet Rock can return to her form from Flemington in the Tattersall’s Tiara.
“We are just putting a line through that run and hopefully she can take her Flemington form into tomorrow’s race,” Webb said.
“She covered a lot of ground and she got going early.
“She progressively got wider and she still only got beaten by five lengths or so.
“I thought that it was a very good effort considering.”
Lumosty has been suited in the second half of the field in all three of her race starts this preparation, but she has shown plenty of tactical versatility during her racing career to date and she controlled the race from the when she took out the Group 2 Drummond Golf Fillies Classic (1600m) at Moonee Valley on October 25.
Webb said that the stable will analyse how the Gold Coast track is playing before they decide on how to ride Lumosty in the 2015 Tattersall’s Tiara, but he feels that jockey Mark Zahra will have a number of options in the early stages of the race.
“I think she comes into eight if the barriers stay as they are now without any more scratchings,” Webb said.
“She was forward that day at Moonee Valley over a mile and we will look at the speed map and see how the track is racing at that time of the day.
“It could definitely be cutting out on the inside and we will play it by ear because she is a filly that can be put anywhere.”
Lumosty is currently available at 2015 Tattersall’s Tiara odds of $7.50 and is on the fourth line of betting with Ladbrokes behind Najoom ($3.80), Catkins ($4.60) and Srikandi ($4.60).