Fred Hoystead Medal winning trainer Peter Moody is excited to be saddling up two of his spring hopefuls in the 2011 Memsie Stakes at Caulfield this weekend, Caulfield Guineas winner Anacheeva and Group 1 winning Kiwi mare King’s Rose to represent the trainer in the feature.
Twelve months ago one of Australia’s greatest ever racehorses, the now European-trained So You Think took out the Memsie Stakes and on Saturday a final field of 13 top chances will look to follow in the dual Cox Plate winner’s hoofsteps.
Two of the horses engaged for the $200,000 Group 2 Memsie Stakes (1400m) come from Moody, of which the ace horseman is most anticipating the Australian race debut of Redoute’s Choice mare King’s Rose.
A recent addition to Moody’s stables, four-year-old King’s Rose was formerly trained and raced in New Zealand by the Matamata-based Jason Bridgman.
She has had 12 career starts to date for six victories which included five successive stakes wins from October last year through until February this year.
King’s Rose’s biggest success to date was in the 2010 NZ Thousand Guineas, and she was last seen running a credible seventh when beaten just three lengths by Midnight Oil in the NZ Oaks on March 19.
On Saturday Moody’s No. 1 jockey Luke Nolen, regular rider of glamour mare Black Caviar, has the mount on King’s Rose but they will have some work to do after drawing wide with barrier 11 of 13.
Still, Moody is confident she can be competitive against the five other Group 1 champions engaged in the Memsie Stakes this year including the 2011 Melbourne Cup-bound Shamrocker.
“I’m a little bit excited about her,” Moody admitted after King’s Rose worked well at Caulfield yesterday.
“She is quality and well suited to the Memsie and I think she will improve on whatever she does.”
King’s Rose is set to target two of the Melbourne Spring Carnival’s ‘Big Three’ races with Moody nominating her for both the $1 million Group 1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) and the $3 million Group 1 Cox Plate (2040m).
Caulfield Guineas winner Anacheeva will resume in the 2011 Memsie Stakes this Saturday
Caulfield Cup betting markets at Luxbet have King’s Rose rated a $35 chance while in the 2011 Cox Plate odds she is paying a very generous $61.
Moody is also looking forward to seeing a return to form from his reigning Caulfield Guineas winner Anacheeva who is also set to resume in the Memsie.
The Anabaa four-year-old has failed to win a race since their unbeaten three-from-three winning streak that culminated with their Guineas success last spring.
At their most recent run, Anacheeva finished third behind Memsie Stakes rival Shamrocker in the Group 1 Australian Derby (2400m) on April 9.
“He was disappointing in the autumn, but his best run was in the AJC Derby,” Moody said.
Craig Newitt will partner with Anacheeva for the first time on Saturday and they too have suffered an early blow drawing the extreme outside barrier.
Anacheeva is also heading towards the Caulfield Cup and Cox Plate this spring, Luxbet paying $61 for him in both futures markets.
“He looks in great shape and he is heading towards the Caulfield Cup,” Moody confirmed.
“He should run well on Saturday, but he will hit his straps when he gets to 1800 – 2000 metres.”
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