While she’s unlikely to be aimed at a Group 1 assignment this season, Stuart Kendrick’s Sunshine Coast-based mare Doubtfilly is set to race on some of the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival’s biggest race days.
Doubtfilly will be aimed at stakes races on both Caulfield and Melbourne Cup Days this year. Photo: Daniel Costello.
The Not A Single Doubt four-year-old is heading towards a run on the prestigious Melbourne Cup Day at Flemington Racecourse on the first Tuesday of November where the action will be headlined by the running of the ‘race that stops a nation’ – the $6.2 million Group 1 Emirates Melbourne Cup (3200m).
Six-time winner Doubtfilly meanwhile has a lower key target that day with her trainer Kendrick looking at the $150,000 Listed MSS Security Sprint (1200m) for her grand final.
Before that she’ll also run on Caulfield Cup Day, all going to plan, in the $120,000 Listed Alinghi Stakes (1100m) against a top field of sprinters.
Doubtfilly was a bargain buy for Kendrick and her other part-owners having been picked up from the 2011 Magic Millions QTIS 600 Yearling Sales for a mere $17,500.
It’s been a fairytale for connections then as she’s managed to pick up over $643,000 in prize money over her 18-start career to date.
A good bulk of that came during last year’s autumn carnival in Sydney where she collected $190,000 for her good fourth to super colt Pierro in the $3.5 million Group 1 Golden Slipper (1200m) as a $91 roughie in the juvenile’s classic.
Her two subsequent Group 1 starts have been disappointing however.
As a three-year-old last September she was a distant 10th when failing to beat home any of her rivals in the Golden Rose and then this winter she was beaten eight lengths when 15th (of 16) to Red Tracer in the Tattersall’s Tiara in Brisbane.
She atoned two weeks later however in her most recent appearance when hanging on in a tight finish to win the Listed Ascot Handicap (1200m) at Eagle Farm on July 6.
Originally Kendrick wasn’t going to take Doubtfilly, who gets back to trackwork this week, to Melbourne this spring for a shot at the Victorian riches.
“We were originally looking at giving her a longer spell and bringing her back for the Magic Millions (at the Gold Coast in Jauary) and summer Triple Crown,” Kendrick told AAP this week.
He’s since reassessed however and with all the owners keen for another notable pay day they’ll give her a shot up against the better sprinters interstate.
“After discussions with the owners we’re all keen to aim at a couple of sprint races for mares in Melbourne during the spring carnival,” he said.
“She was doing some pre-training on the water walker last week and she looked in great shape.
“All the signs are really positive with her.”
Follow the progress of Doubtfilly throughout the spring right here at Races.com.au.
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