Darryl Sherer
Group One winner I Am A Star is on target for Saturday’s Gr.3 Ladbrokes Cockram Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield.
The New Zealand-bred five-year-old mare finished fourth fresh-up in the Gr.3 Aurie’s Star (1200m) and her trainer Shane Nichols thinks she will take a lot of improvement out of that run.
“She really needed the run in the Aurie’s Star,” Nichols said. “She was just a bit new and blew out a bit, she’s tightened up nice.”
I Am A Star will have to overcome an outside barrier of 17, but Nichols isn’t overly perturbed by the draw.
"My initial thoughts were not good and now I've become a bit more forgiving of the gate. Being in the last race it may not be as bad as first thought,” he said.
"Riding her a bit conservative, and being out in the middle or further out, may not be the worst place to be.”
I Am A Star, who was a $12,000 purchase out of Rich Hill Sud’s 2015 New Zealand Bloodstock May Sale draft, will be ridden by Damien Oliver.