Joe Pride’s upset last start Black Caviar Lightning winner Terravista headlines the Challenge Stakes 2017 nominations for the Group 2 sprint at Royal Randwick this Saturday in Sydney.
Black Caviar Lightning winner Terravista chases another 1000m win in the Challenge Stakes 2017 in Sydney this weekend. Photo: Ultimate Racing Photos.
One of the key race son the Randwick Guineas Day card, this autumn’s lucrative $500,000 Group 1 Hyland Challenge Stakes (1000m) nominations have been extended after only 13 early entries were received by Racing NSW on Monday.
The highest-rated of the current sprinters heading towards a shot at 2017 The Galaxy lead-up is seven-year-old Captain Rio gelding Terravista.
Winner of the 2014 Darley Classic, the champ proved his evergreen status and broke through with a second career Group 1 first-up on February 18 defeating Spieth by a nose in the Black Caviar Lightning (1000m).
He is now set to return to Sydney for the first time since his sixth in last April’s Group 1 TJ Smith Stakes (1200m) behind Chautauqua and continue his run of form in the Challenge Stakes.
Terravista has a top record at the track of five wins and a third from eight starts and is also a short-distance specialist with two wins and two seconds from four goes at the 1000m.
Pride has also nominated for two other hopefuls: Kentucky Miss and Ball Of Muscle.
The sole three-year-old in the mix, Foxwedge filly Kentucky Miss has won four of her 10 career runs so far including two from three over the Challenge Stakes distance.
She will be up notably in class if accepted for a showdown with her better preformed stablemates however and hasn’t raced since a sixth to Spright in a Flemington Group 3 last Melbourne Cup Carnival.
Ball Of Muscle is a six-year-old son of Dubawi whose latest start was a third to Music Magnate in the Group 2 Expressway Stakes (1200m) at Rosehill in late January.
He too has plenty of 1000m form (8-2-2-2), both wins of the distance being at Royal Randwick, and is out to break a notable winning drought that extends back to May of 2015.
Ball Of Muscle was sixth past the post in last year’s Challenge Stakes behind the winner English, defeated only two lengths.
The Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott-trained English is nominated for a title defence on the weekend, the now four-year-old Encoasta De Lago mare after her first win since the Group 1 All Aged Stakes (1400m) over Black Heart Bart in April of 2016.
Her latest effort was a second last (11th) to Malaguerra in the Darley Classic in Melbourne, but she looks on track for a big autumn returning having won back-to-back Warwick Farm trails in February.
Other notable nominees include the progressive Kris Lees-trained four-year-old Dal Cielo coming off back-to-back wins and Lonhro mare Heatherly who will be ridden by the ‘Magic Man’ Joao Moreira.
Check out the current Challenge Stakes 2017 nominations below, the field and betting markets from Ladbrokes.com.au set for release on Wednesday.
2017 Challenge Stakes Nominations
Randwick Racecourse – 04/03/2017
| # | Form (Last 10) | Horse | Sex | Age | Trainer | H. Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 68x265x633 | BALL OF MUSCLE | G | 6 | Joseph Pride | 104 |
| 2 | 62x600x211 | DAL CIELO (NZ) | G | 4 | Kris Lees | 93 |
| 3 | 1631x5470x | ENGLISH | M | 4 | Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott | 110 |
| 4 | 15x447317x | FELINES | M | 5 | Kris Lees | 101 |
| 5 | 97x000x670 | HEART TESTA | G | 7 | Matthew Smith | 86 |
| 6 | 1113x132x6 | HEATHERLY | M | 4 | Mathew Ellerton & Simon Zahra | 107 |
| 7 | 212134028x | JUNGLE EDGE | G | 6 | Mick Bell | 88 |
| 8 | 56x153116x | KENTUCKY MISS | F | 3 | Joseph Pride | 82 |
| 9 | 431160x19x | PALAZZO PUBBLICO | M | 5 | Matthew Smith | 98 |
| 10 | 2215x1181x | REDZEL | G | 4 | Peter & Paul Snowden | 104 |
| 11 | 1x11x113x9 | SUPIDO | H | 5 | Michael Kent | 98 |
| 12 | 3x296x20x1 | TERRAVISTA | G | 7 | Joseph Pride | 113 |
| 13 | 6247×27684 | WOULDNT IT BE NICE | G | 6 | Paul Perry | 89 |
