With Zaaki out and a Heavy (10) track for Randwick on Saturday the money is coming for last weekend’s Guy Walter Stakes winning mare Forbidden Love to take out this autumn’s Group 1 $500,000 Canterbury Stakes (1300m).
Forbidden Love is firming favourite to win the Group 1 Canterbury Stakes at Randwick on Saturday. Photo: Steve Hart.
Connections of returning Mackinnon Stakes champion Zaaki opted to withdraw the headliner from the Canterbury in Sydney due to the track conditions and potential Sydney wash-out and he resumes instead at Flemington as favourite in the Group 2 Blamey Stakes (1600m).
“With continued rainfall and further forecast, Zaaki will unfortunately be scratched from this Saturday’s Canterbury Stakes,” Neasham confirmed on Twitter.
“At this stage, the plan is now to run in the G2 Blamey Stakes at Flemington.”
That has opened things up ahead of a wet edition of the Canterbury and updated markets at Ladbrokes.com.au have the Richard & Michael Freedman-trained Forbidden Love on top.
The four-year-old daughter of All Too Hard, who has won over $1.15 million in prizemoney, is a proven mudlark boasting three wins from four previous starts on Heavy going and has been well-backed in from $3.80 to $2.45.
She chases her second elite level success having won the Group 1 Surround Stakes (1400m) by three lengths on a Soft (5) at Randwick as a three-year-old last February and won her first race since last time out.
Breaking the drought, Forbidden Love swum on the Heavy (10) last Saturday dominating the Group 2 Guy Walter Stakes (1400m) with a powerhouse three length victory at the track she returns to on the quick back-up this weekend.
With conditions to suit again she looks well positioned rising back up in grade and taking on the boys in the Canterbury.
The danger occupying the second line of Canterbury Stakes betting this autumn at $4.50 is fellow mare Lighthouse prepared by Ciaron Maher & David Eustace.
After winning four on the trot over her spring – summer campaign, the Mizzen Mast grey comes off back-to-back seconds at Caulfield.
The latest was behind Tofane in the Group 1 C.F. Orr Stakes (1400m) on February 12, the American expat racing north of the state border for the first time.
Making her Sydney debut, Lighthouse jumps from gate two, in from three following the scratching of the rails-drawn Zaaki, and James McDonald comes aboard having originally been booked to ride the withdrawn galloper.
Two further weight-for-age hopefuls also sit under $10 for the win with the resuming Joe Pride-trained Private Eye ($6) and Private Eye Annabel Neasham’s remaining representative Laws Of Indices ($6).
Four-year-old Al Maher gelding Private Eye looks a nice price to kick off his autumn with a win having won both his previous starts on Heavy tracks.
He has a stellar record at the track (4:2-1-0) and distance (4:3-0-0) and races for the first time since a fifth to Zaaki in the Group 1 Mackinnon Stakes (2000m) on a Good (4) at Flemington last November.
Earlier in the spring Private Eye won the Group 1 Epsom Handicap (1600m) at Randwick and, while weight-for-age will be tougher here, he presents as a winning hope having won first-up last time in in the Group 3 Show County Quality (1200m) here last August.
Zaaik’s stablemate Laws Of Indices is an untapped Power entire from the UK who debuted for Neasham running fifth under two lengths beaten at a big price behind I’m Thunderstruck in the $7.5 million The Golden Eagle (1500m) last October.
He returned in the Group 3 Southern Cross Stakes (1200m) when fifth again this time to Lost And Running on February 12 with improvement to come.
The 2022 Canterbury Stakes is scheduled to run as Race 7 at 4:00pm (AEDT) on Saturday’s 10-race Randwick card.
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