Looking Ahead puts the spotlight on runners of interest across Australia and New Zealand. Whether they are a particularly well-bred or high-priced runner having their first or second start, a promising galloper returning to the track or a horse which has trialled particularly well, we’ll aim to give you something to follow.
On Monday, Kris Lees unleashes a very well-related filly at Scone, while at Mornington, Shane Nichols presents the first filly from a Group 2 winner and Robbie Griffiths saddles a relative of some quality European Group winners.
Scone Race 2, Segenhoe Stud Mdn Hcp, $22,000, 1100m, 2:25pm AEDT
Celebrita's Choice (Snitzel) makes her debut for Kris Lees here off the back of two competitive trials, the latest when a narrow third at Wyong. Lees has had a great run with these debutants in the last month or so.
A $550,000 purchase for China Horse Club at the 2017 Easter Sale, she's a three-quarter sister to Group 3 winner Florentina and a half-sister to Group 1 winner Gathering, as well as Listed winner California Turbo. Her second dam Twyla is a three-quarter sister to Redoute's Choice, which makes for a very interesting pedigree as well as a stack of black type on her pedigree page.
Celebrita's Choice as a yearling
Mornington Race 3, McLeod Trees Mdn, $23,000, 2:30pm AEDT
Sahara Belle (I Am Invincible) brings a strong pedigree to her maiden assignment. She is the first foal from Group 2 winner Oasis Bloom, the half-sister to Underestimation from the family of Group 3-winning filly Purpose.
Trained by Shane Nichols and owned by Michael Christian, who through her trainer paid $100,000 for her at the 2017 Premier Sale, she was down the track in a recent trial but strikes a fairly thin maiden here.
Sahara Belle
Mornington Race 4, The Big Screen Company Mdn, $23,000, 3:00pm AEDT
Piemonte (Fiorente {Ire}) looks like he’ll appreciate a bit more than 1200m in time, having finished a fair way off them in a recent Cranbourne trial. But he can make an impression first-up in this race.
He was a $105,000 buy at the 2017 Premier Sale, and boasts an interesting pedigree being out of Ellas (Canny Lad), whose own dam Miss Mycanae (UAE) is a half-sister to a trio of European stakes winners in Magna Graecia, Graikos and Parthenon. Further back is the champion mare Helen Street, the dam of the legendary Street Cry and granddam of Shamardal.
Piemonte as a yearling
