By Michael Guerin
Coastal Babe may loosely be on trial for a Queensland campaign when she resumes at Alexandra Park tonight but that doesn’t mean she has to win.
The Group 1 winner races for the first time since finishing fourth in All You Need Is Me’s Northern Oaks on March 22, after which she was found to be off colour.
Trainer Steven Reid gave her a spell which went a little longer than expected as he see-sawed on whether to aim Coastal Babe at the Queensland winter carnival.
“When she first went for a spell I thought we’d get her back ready for Queensland and then when I found out there was only one flight going there around when we wanted to travel I wavered on the idea,” Reid explains.
“The only direct flight was on June 8 so that is gone so if we want to campaign her there she will have to go to Sydney and then truck up to Brisbane.
“So that makes it more difficult but we haven’t totally ruled it out because there really isn’t anything here for her.
“So we will see how she goes this week and then decide what to do next.”
So does that mean winning winning Race 7, the IRT. Your Horse.Our Passion Mobile Pace tonight against mainly older pacers over the tricky mobile mile.
“Not really. She is drawn wide and could go back at the start and if she does and run on well she could finish fourth and still earn herself a trip there.
“So we will know a lot more after the race.”
Coastal Babe would need to be close to her peak to win with in-form pacers Twista, Busload Of Faith, Artisan and Skipper drawn inside her, plenty of them with gate speed, she faces a massive jobn trying to round them up.
It is a typical Alexandra Park 1609m race for this grade: if the leader and trailer get an easy time they usually win, but one horse putting on early or mid-race pressure would change the whole dynamic.
Reid also has Shake A Leg (R4, No.7) drawn wide in his race, the TAB Golden Gait – Enter Your Horse to Earn Points Mobile Pace, but expects the three-year-old to race well.
“He was actually underdone last start when he hadn’t race for over two months.
“I was going to trial him but the maidens are pretty weak up here at the moment so I decided to race him instead and he went well.
“I am sure he will be a big improver this week and while he has a bad draw I think he will go close with any luck.”
Speedy three-year-old The Moonstone is an interesting addition to the Border Fencing Services Fillies and Mares Mobile Trot and could take catching albeit giving away plenty of rating points to the likes of Monarch Hill, Kiss And Run and Kimkar Dash.
