Sacred Star
Trish Dunell
Buoyed by Sacred Elixir's midweek success in his Australian debut, Tony Pike is looking to his star sprinter-miler Sacred Star to continue the stable's roll at Doomben on Saturday.
He will make his first appearance since winning the Gr.3 Darley Plate at Ellerslie in March when he steps out in the Gr.1 BTC Cup.
"Sacred Star's done really well, but it's a hot race and we'll have to wait and see how he goes against these top sprinters," Pike said.
"It's a very strong field and if he can run in the money we would be very happy and continue on the Group One path or we can always drop him back."
The $A1.5 million Stradbroke Handicap, in which Sacred Star finished a luckless sixth last year, on June 11 is the loftier goal while the Gr.2 QTC Cup, also at Eagle Farm, a week earlier and the Listed Glasshouse Handicap at the Sunshine Coast on July 2 are easier options.
The stable's Queensland tenure got away to the perfect start on Wednesday when the two-year-old Sacred Elixir carried topweight of 58kg to victory over 1400 metres at the Sunshine Coast.
"That was a good way to kick off and he's got bigger targets coming up," Pike said. "We've always had a pretty good opinion of him and he's really strengthened up.
"He's likely to head to the Sires' Produce on the 28th – it looks a good race for him, even though it's only 1350 metres, but they go pretty quickly around Doomben and that will suit him and set him up nicely for the J.J. Atkins over a mile at Eagle Farm a fortnight later."
The third member of the team in Australia is the Gr.1 New Zealand Derby winner Rangipo, who will step out in Saturday week's Gr.3 Fred Best Classic ahead of the Gr.2 Queensland Guineas on June 11.
"Provocative will be going over on Sunday as well and she'll run at Ipswich next Wednesday and hopefully she'll pick up enough prizemoney to get into the Queensland Oaks," Pike said – NZ Racing Desk.
He will make his first appearance since winning the Gr.3 Darley Plate at Ellerslie in March when he steps out in the Gr.1 BTC Cup.
"Sacred Star's done really well, but it's a hot race and we'll have to wait and see how he goes against these top sprinters," Pike said.
"It's a very strong field and if he can run in the money we would be very happy and continue on the Group One path or we can always drop him back."
The $A1.5 million Stradbroke Handicap, in which Sacred Star finished a luckless sixth last year, on June 11 is the loftier goal while the Gr.2 QTC Cup, also at Eagle Farm, a week earlier and the Listed Glasshouse Handicap at the Sunshine Coast on July 2 are easier options.
The stable's Queensland tenure got away to the perfect start on Wednesday when the two-year-old Sacred Elixir carried topweight of 58kg to victory over 1400 metres at the Sunshine Coast.
"That was a good way to kick off and he's got bigger targets coming up," Pike said. "We've always had a pretty good opinion of him and he's really strengthened up.
"He's likely to head to the Sires' Produce on the 28th – it looks a good race for him, even though it's only 1350 metres, but they go pretty quickly around Doomben and that will suit him and set him up nicely for the J.J. Atkins over a mile at Eagle Farm a fortnight later."
The third member of the team in Australia is the Gr.1 New Zealand Derby winner Rangipo, who will step out in Saturday week's Gr.3 Fred Best Classic ahead of the Gr.2 Queensland Guineas on June 11.
"Provocative will be going over on Sunday as well and she'll run at Ipswich next Wednesday and hopefully she'll pick up enough prizemoney to get into the Queensland Oaks," Pike said – NZ Racing Desk.
