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TheMcEvoy stable will take a proven path towards major races during the Racing SA Carnival via Saturday’s $102,250 Hills Railway Stakes (1100m) at Oakbank.
The stable won the 2019 feature with Despatch, who went on to win the Goodwood just weeks later, while last year Will Clarken's Bella Vella won the feature – run at Morphettville due to COVID-19 restrictions – before her breakthrough Group 1 win in the Sangster Stakes.
Sisstar returns to SA after breaking the clock last start over 955m at Moonee Valley and Calvin McEvoy said the Sangster at Morphettville on May 1 was the target for the full-sister to former star mare Sunlight.
"She was always going to be living in her big sister's shadow," McEvoy said.
"We paid $600,000 for her a yearling which was double what we paid for Sunlight.
"But when she won the Group 3 Red Roses at Flemington, that was such a good day (because) she did it in her own right.
Now she's worth a lot, not just because she's Sunlight's sister, but because she's a well-bred Group 3 winner and a sister to a champion."
After an impressive Moonee Valley win first-up from a spell – the fastest over the 955m trip for the Moonee Valley night season that netted the stable a $55,000 bonus – Sisstar had the benefit of a look around Oakbank in a recent trial.
"Obviously the trial at Oakbank wasn't under any pressure but it's nice knowing she's had a look around there," McEvoy said.
"But the big weight concerns me a little bit. She's only small but she is flying.
"She's matured in the brain which means she a little more versatile. I can't fault her in anyway, but the concern is the weight."
McEvoy said the four-year-old would need to continue to progress if she was going to mix it with some of Australia's best sprinting fillies and mares at Morphettville next month.
"She has to come up another level to be competitive in a Sangster and to run out a strong 1200m, which I think she will," McEvoy said.
"The Sangster is the plan and then it will be up to the owners how long she races because she's obviously going to be a big-ticket item at a broodmare sale."
