Mile to Suit 2016 Thousand Guineas Bound Star

August 15, 2016

Mile to Suit 2016 Thousand Guineas Bound Star

Jockey Steven King has given Mornington train Shane Nichols nothing but confidence that his Quezette Stakes winning filly I Am A Star will see out the mile of the Thousand Guineas 2016 this spring.

I Am A Star

Quezette Stakes winner I Am A Star (No. 4) tracks towards a run in the 2016 Thousand Guineas over a mile on October 8. Photo: Ultimate Racing Photos.

Over the weekend King made it three-from-three aboard the daughter of I Am Invincible, guiding I Am A Star to a narrow long-neck victory over Leotie and Athena Lass in Caulfield’s Group 3 Quezette Stakes (1100m).

It was the filly’s first-up win since taking out the Group 3 National Stakes (1200m) in Adelaide back in May and showed she had come through her winter spell well.

Nichols has the long-term Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival goal of the $500,000 Group 1 Schweppes Thousand Guineas (1600m) at Caulfield Racecourse on October 8 pencilled in for I Am A Star.

A winner of three of her four career starters, the three-year-old is yet to race over further than 1200m but Nichols has gain confidence from King’s reports that the filly will see out a strong mile.

“[King’s] adamant she’ll run a mile,” Nichols told Correct Weight on RSN on Sunday.

“If she’s drawn a gate, she’ll be able to possie up pretty close to the speed and quicken off the mark.

“He’s always been a big advocate for her in how she runs her races, she doesn’t get pulling, she doesn’t hesitate whether it’s in between runners, or outside runners.

“She leaves the gates clean – she’s a very compliant racehorse.”

Next-up Nichols is looking at a run at Moonee Valley on September 3 in the $120,000 Listed Atlantic Jewel Stakes (1200m).

He could still bypass the race however depending on the penalty weight I Am The Star receives from the handicapper for the set weights plus penalties sprint.

“Probably the Atlantic Jewel, but we’ve got to have a look and see how the penalties treat us,” he said.

“We copped 1.5kg above some of those fillies yesterday, and we’ll go to 2.5kg above them for a Listed race like the Atlantic Jewel.

“That was the initial thought, but I’ll refine that over the next couple of days.”

The other confirmed run for I Am A Star leading up to the Group 1 on Caulfield Guineas Day is the $200,000 Group 2 Schweppes Thousand Guineas Prelude (1400m) on September 24.

“We’ll go to the 1400m lead-up to the Thousand Guineas, and assess her from there,” Nichols said.

“I would imagine the way she’s been racing, and how she’s worked, I think she probably will run a mile.”

Current Thousand Guineas odds at Ladbrokes.com.au are led by the David Vandyke-trained Yankee Rose ($6), runner-up in the Golden Slipper and winner of Randwick’s Group 1 Inglis Sires’ (1400m) from April, while I Am A Star is at a quote of $17.

Yankee Rose is down to return first-up on September 10 at Rosehill Gardens in the $1 million Group 1 Golden Rose Stakes (1400m) and is equal $7 favourite for the three-year-olds’ classic with the John O’Shea-trained Lonhro colt Impending ($7).

Former Golden Rose Stakes favourite Capitalist, winner of last season’s Golden Slipper, has eased out to $8 in pre-field betting after his shock fourth as the beaten favourite in Saturday’s Group 3 San Domenico Stakes (1100m).

Check out all the early Group 1 racing markets for the upcoming three-years-old classics online now at Ladbrokes.com.au!

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