trish Dunell
Gr.1 Auckland Cup (3200m) winner Ladies First will be on a Group One path at Otaki later this month in a further lead-up toward a Sydney campaign.
The six-year-old thrilled trainer Allan Sharrock with her first-up solid-finishing sixth behind Flamingo in last week’s Listed Wairarapa Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes (1600m) at Tauherenikau and will start next in the Gr.1 Haunui Farm WFA Group One Classic (1600m) at Otaki on February 23.
“She went massive first-up and she looks outstanding,’’ Sharrock said. ‘’The Otaki race will still be too short for her, but she might run a nice fifth or sixth. She needs it to get ready for the Sydney Cup.
‘’After that she will possibly go to Ellerslie for the Bonecrusher and if she gets a shower of rain there she could run a place. She won’t be peaking until she gets to Sydney.’’
After the Gr.1 Bonecrusher New Zealand Stakes (2000m) at Ellerslie on March 9, Ladies First will use the Gr.2 Chairman’s Quality (2600m) at Randwick on April 6 as a final lead-up to the Gr.1 Sydney Cup (3200m) on the same course a week later.