Four rivals for Alizee
Star mare Alizee (Sepoy) will face just four rivals in Saturday's G2 Smithfield RSL Smart Missile S.
Trainer James Cummings is confident that the three-time Group 1 winner can kick her campaign off on a winning note.
Alizee will contest the G2 Smithfield RSL Smart Missile S. on Saturday
“She’s come up really well this preparation and with a couple of public hit-outs at the trials she will be ready to go this weekend first-up in the Missile,” he said.
“She’s a horse that was able to win the Expressway with authority first-up last preparation, so we expect her to put in a strong showing this Saturday where her track and distance record is impressive."
“We will be targeting the sprints with her this spring with an obvious eye on The Everest. That said, we are reserving the opportunity to make a decision on that until later in her preparation.”
Le Romain (Hard Spun {USA}), Vegadaze (Lope de Vega {Ire}), Dissolute (New Approach {Ire}) and Invincible Gem (I Am Invincible) are the other four runners.
Freedman's stars on verge of return
Anthony Freedman's 3-year-old stars are nearing a return to the racetrack, with both G1 Blue Diamond S. winner Lyre (Lonhro) and stakes-winner I Am Immortal (I Am Invincible) set to resume at Caulfield on August 16.
Both Lyre and I Am Immortal competed in jumpouts at Mornington on Wednesday, with Lyre running second in hers and I Am Immortal successful in his.
I Am Immortal will aim to the Vain Stakes.
“Lyre could possibly run in the Quezette on Saturday week, if we feel she is ready and up for it,” assistant trainer Sam Freedman told reporters. “With I Am Immortal we will look at the Vain Stakes on the same day."
“Those horses will both be nommed for those races. We are happy with them, touch wood, they have had pretty good preps.”
Rekindling retired
The 2017 G1 Melbourne Cup winner Rekindling (GB) (High Chaparral {Ire}) has been retired with a view to him standing at stud in Europe.
Part-owner Lloyd Williams confirmed to Racing.com that Rekindling would no longer race and be looking for a home to stand in the northern hemisphere in 2020.
Rekindling raced just 11 times contesting a G1 Derby at Epsom before winning a G2 Curragh Cup and then going on to win the Melbourne Cup for trainer Joseph O'Brien and jockey Corey Brown,
He only had one more start, well beaten in this year's G1 Australian Cup at Flemington.
The 2017 G1 Melbourne Cup winner, Rekindling has been retired
Magic Millions entries close Friday
Entries for the 2020 Magic Millions Yearling Sales Series close on Friday August 9.
The Magic Millions team is working hard to lock in vendors for the three yearling sales at the Gold Coast as well as its yearling sales in Perth, Adelaide and Launceston.
Magic Millions Yearling Sale Series entries close on August 9
Vendors are asked to get their entries in by Friday through the online entry facility. The only sale which will be open after this point will be the National Yearling Sale, which doesn't close until March.
Magic Millions is coming off a record breaking season with over $378 million grossed at its auctions across Australia.
"We have sales all over Australia. We'd like to think that for any breeder, anywhere in Australia, we've got a sale for them,"Magic Millions Managing Director Barry Bowditch said.
Highway comes to Brisbane
Brisbane will get its first taste of Highway racing on Saturday with the staging of the Queensland Country Highway Plate (1350m) at Doomben.
Much like the Highway races in Sydney, the race is restricted to Queensland trainers who operate out of a track which does not host a Saturday metropolitan race, meaning horses trained at Eagle Farm, Doomben, Toowoomba, Gold Coast, Ipswich and the Sunshine Coast are ineligible.
A trainer must have also had a horse in his care for at least 180 days.
The first edition of what Racing Queensland expects to be a monthly fixture features 16 runners.
High hopes for filly
Matamata trainer Stephen Autridge is eying a path to the G1 NZ 1000 Guineas at Riccarton with promising filly Woodcote Lass (NZ) (Showcasing {GB}).
A winner of one of her two starts to date, Woodcote Lass charged home to finish second in a trial at Te Teko on Tuesday and the former training partner of Jamie Richards believes the filly can measure up to top-class.
“I was really happy with that trial against older horses,” Autridge said. “She goes very well and her work had been good leading into that.”
Bred and raced by Valachi Downs' Kevin Hickman, Woodcote Lass is out of a half-sister to Group 1-winning sprinter Maarek (GB) (Pivotal {GB}).
“Woodcote Lass is likely to start off in the three-year-old fillies’ race at Taupo on August 21, and then we’ll just work out what we do from there, with the idea of trying to get her to Christchurch early in the spring for her Guineas build-up,” he said.
Autridge has about 35 horses in work, having been appointed as a key trainer for Hickman last year after leaving a partnership with Richards which produced more than 250 winners.
Gamechanger for Otto
Westbury Stud has announced that Jamie Otto has received its 2019-20 internship as part of the Gamechanger program.
The program has been designed to create career pathways while building depth of technical skill across all aspects of the thoroughbred industry.
"I'm very passionate about this industry and I'm thrilled to be offered the internship," Otto said. "The opportunities to progress in this industry are very hard to come by and to have my employer Westbury identify this ongoing concern and create this initiative is a positive not only for myself but for those who complete the program in the future and for the overall benefit of the industry."
"I have worked with horses in various roles for many years and I'm looking forward to completing this internship with experience and a skill set that deepens my knowledge and develop strong people management skills that I can take forward with me in my career," he said.
