Multiple Group One winner Atishu (NZ) (Savabeel) will kick-off what will likely be her last racing campaign when she heads to Randwick on Saturday to contest what is shaping to be a very competitive Gr.2 Apollo Stakes (1400m).
Raced by New Zealand syndicator Go Racing, the seven-year-old mare has had two trials in the lead-up to her first-up target and Go Racing General Manager Matt Allnutt said he has received positive reports from trainer Chris Waller.
“Chris got her going a bit earlier than he has in recent campaigns,” Allnutt said. “He has been really happy with her work and her trials have been good.
“She will need this run on Saturday and then she will be a lot more forward than she has been previously second-up.
“It is going to be a great race on Saturday.”
Flemington elite-level targets await Atishu following the weekend, and Allnutt is looking forward to returning to the Melbourne track where she has had so much success.
Her Flemington victories include the Gr.1 Champions Stakes (2000m), Gr.1 Empire Rose Stakes (1600m), Gr.2 Matriarch Stakes (2000m) and Gr.2 Blamey Stakes (1600m), while she has also placed in the Champions Stakes, Empire Rose Stakes and Gr.1 Australian Cup (2000m).
“She will go to the All-Star Mile (Gr.1, 1600m) and then the Australian Cup, that’s the plan at this stage,” Allnutt said.
“This is more than likely going to be her last season of racing, so it is all about maximising her value and winning as many Group Ones as we can.”
Purchased by Go Racing out of Waikato Stud’s 2019 New Zealand Bloodstock Book 1 Yearling Sale for $260,000, Atishu has gone on to win 11 races, three at Group One level, and earned more than A$5.5 million in prizemoney.
“She has just been a marvel for us all the way through,” Allnutt said. “She is now a triple Group One winner, she has been a great horse for us and the syndicate love her.”
Meanwhile, the Go Racing team were pleased to see their Group One-winning filly Velocious (Written Tycoon) carry their silks to victory in her 800m trial at Ellerslie on Tuesday.
The winner of last season’s Gr.1 Sistema Stakes (1200m) and Karaka Millions 2YO (1200m) underwent a wind operation late last year and has been making a pleasing return for trainer Stephen Marsh.
“We are really happy. We have taken her along slowly after the wind operation,” Allnutt said. “Today was a step in the right direction. She probably knocked up a bit late today, but Rory (Hutchings, jockey) said she felt great, her breathing was good and she felt nice and strong under saddle. We are very encouraged with what we saw today.”
No set plans have yet been made for the daughter of Written Tycoon, who will have one more trial before making her raceday return.
“She will have one more trial now in a fortnight’s time and she will be more forward for that and then safely through that we will start thinking about where she is going to go and what we are going to do,” Allnutt said.
“If she can come back to somewhere near what she was as a two-year-old, she will be more than competitive in black-type racing again.”
