Multiple Group One winner Grail Seeker (NZ) (Iffraaj) made a big impression ahead of a possible Australian feature target at the Ellerslie trials on Tuesday afternoon.
The daughter of Iffraaj has only had three raceday appearances this season, and in that time picked up both the Gr.1 Tarzino Trophy (1400m) and Gr.1 Telegraph (1200m), accumulating more than $500,000 in prizemoney.
Starting favourite in the Gr.1 BCD Group Sprint (1400m) in early February, Grail Seeker struck firmer track conditions than she would typically fancy but still finished sixth in a high-class field.
Instead of pressing on in that campaign, trainers Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott went back to their proven method with the four-year-old, freshening her up and returning to the trials where she showed every bit of the class that earned her two elite-level crowns this term.
In the hands of Masa Hashizume, Grail Seeker settled second-last in the 1100m heat and was never off the bridle, powering past her rivals in the straight to win her 1100m heat by a neck.
“We were pleased with her parade, she settled and looked great in her skin and coat,” Scott said.
“Masa knows her well and has trialled her in the past, and it was all about how she was going at the line. He got off and said she is going equally as well as she was before the Tarzino, so we’re pleased with that.
“She really stretched out nicely in the straight.”
A trip to Royal Randwick is now under serious consideration for Grail Seeker, with the A$1.5 million Gr.1 All Aged Stakes (1400m) to be run on the 19th of April.
“We’ll see how she comes through the next couple of days, but there is the All Aged Stakes in Sydney, that’s where we are initially looking to go,” Scott said.
“We’ve just got to make sure that if we are heading overseas, that she is going as well as she could. We’ll see how she comes through this trial before confirming.”
The mare was initially intended to appear at the abandoned Taupo trials last week, but O’Sullivan and Scott found the positives in her adapted schedule.
“It was nice to get her around Ellerslie, a lot of her future racing will certainly be around there and she went right-handed well, which she hasn’t got a lot of experience doing,” Scott said.
“It was a plus for us to get her more familiar with the track, a lot of the big races are there and the more times she can go around, it certainly is more beneficial to the horse.
“It was a good piece of exercise and education for her.”
