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Melody Belle to tackle Tancred Stakes at Rosehill
Saturday’s Sistema Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Sword Of State (Snitzel) will not run in the Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) at Rosehill on March 20, but Jamie Richards has not written off a trip to Sydney with the son of Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) with training eyeing a tilt at the ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) at Randwick on April 3.
The forecast wet weather set for Sydney this week put paid to a tilt in the Rosehill Group 1 and Richards has warned the colt will only travel to Australia if the ground during The Championships is good and should the weather not play ball the colt will stay in New Zealand for the Manawatu Sires' Produce (Gr 1, 1400m).
''We've opted to go for the Sires' Produce in Sydney, or if it's wet, the Manawatu Sires' Produce here in New Zealand," Richards said.
''They are run on the day, so it gives us the option to go where it is drier."
"We are going to take it quietly with him for a day or two. He won't be seen in the Slipper for a couple of reasons. There is a fair bit of travel to do and only a week to turn him around, plus the forecast is awful.
"We believe he is a horse that needs good ground. He would be effective on soft but certainly not as effective as on top of it, so we are just going to put him in the paddock for a couple of days and then we will look at taking him over for the Sires Produce.
"He certainly has got ability and he is getting better as he gets older which is always a good sign. He was bred to be a pre-Christmas two-year-old and we just couldn't get him going. We gave him a little bit of a freshen and he has come back in great shape.
"He has done a little bit of racing this preparation, and we are always mindful of that, but it is certainly the goal to have him in Australia at some stage."
Richards said he doubted the son of Snitzel will have trouble stepping up to 1400 metres.
''I don't think that will be an issue the way he's been finishing off his 1200 metres races.”
Meanwhile, Sword Of State’s star stablemate Melody Belle (Commands), who added a record-breaking 14th Group 1 win to her record in the Bonecrusher Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) on Saturday, could shoot for number 15 in the HE Tancred Stakes (Gr 1, 2400m) at Rosehill on March 27.
“She is booked to fly on March 25 and she will be able to work that morning and go straight into the Tancred,” Fortuna Syndication’s John Galvin said.
“The only reservation would be track conditions. If it was a really heavy track we might not want to race her at 2400 metres because it is the first time she would have raced at that distance.
“2000 metres is clearly her pet trip and she is pretty dominant at it from what we have seen.
“She is also nominated for the Queen Elizabeth and the Coolmore Legacy, which are both on April 10 at Randwick.”
