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Connections happy with conditions of seven-year-old son of Pivotal

Isabella Paul, a Godolphin Flying Start graduate and William Haggas’s representative in Sydney, is happy with the condition of Addeybb (Pivotal) and his stablemate Favorite Moon (Sea The Moon) who have settled well into quarantine at Canterbury. 

"We've been well looked after here at Canterbury Park,'' Paul said.

"They are both eating up, their temperatures are good and their weight is good. Addeybb obviously did the trip last year but Favorite Moon hasn't done anything like this before so I was a little worried he might not travel as well but he looks great.

"It's brilliant to have Safid (Alam, Addeybb’s handler) down here again, he knows the horse inside out and exactly how Addeybb did things last year and how he liked things last year.

"We can afford to give them a couple of easy days now and then pick them up in the coming week."

Paul said that the due will likely have a hit out on the Polytrack on Thursday but serious work will not commence until next week. 

Addeybb will be out to defend his Ranvet Stakes (registered as Rawason Stakes) (Gr 1, 2000m) and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) crowns but jockey Tom Marquand has a healthy respect for New Zealand-bred mare Verry Ellegant (Zed). 

“Very Ellegant is an exceptional mare, seven Group 1s now is pretty incredible,'' he said.

"It's a competitive sport and they are top athletes, that's the way racing people look at it, and who doesn't want two world class athletes coming together on the final day when it matters.

"I'd rather win by three lengths and find it easy but that's probably unrealistic looking at Verry Elleegant's form in the last year.

"I'm looking forward to it, hopefully everything can go smoothly over the next two weeks until his first run."

Addeybb, whose sire Pivotal (Polar Falcon) was retired from covering duties at Cheveley Park Stud this year, finished second in the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes (Gr 1, 1m2f) at Royal Ascot last June and returned to winning form in the Champions Stakes (Gr 1, 1m2f) at Ascot in October. He was given a rating of 125 in the latest Longine’s Worlds Best Racehorse Rankings - the highest rated horse in training and registered his highest Timeform rating of 129 for winning the Champion Stakes.

"I had to pinch myself a little bit when the ratings came out,'' Marquand said.

"He's getting on in his days now but for whatever reason he just seems to keep taking a step forward for each year he has under his belt. I jumped on him before he left and he felt great.

"Expectation is going to come with success. The second time around at least you half know what to expect."

Stablemat Favorite Moon meanwhile has won two of his eight career starts to date in Europe and his likely first start in Australia will be in the N E Manion Cup (Gr 3, 2400m) with the gelding holding an entry for the Sydney Cup (Gr 1, 3200m). 

"He's very lightly raced, he seems to be a really progressive horse,'' Paul said.

"The two times he won at Haydock he was impressive and then he's had a couple of flat spots. He's never run right-handed so we'll see how he gets to grips with that.

"He'll be progressive and he should come on massively this year, he's clearly very talented and we need to find what makes him tick.”