Gun Godolphin filly Alizee kicks off her big Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival campaign on Saturday as the standout in the Light Fingers Stakes 2018 field at Royal Randwick.
Flight Stakes winner Alizee returns in the 2018 Light Fingers Stakes at Royal Randwick on Saturday. Photo: Steve Hart.
Set to run as Randwick Race 8 at 5:45pm (AEDT), this season’s Group 2 $200,000 Light Fingers Stakes (1200m) attracted a 14 starter field of three-year-old fillies.
Drawn a treat in gate four with Glyn Schofield to ride is the sure-to-be favourite in Light Fingers Stakes betting at Ladbrokes.com.au, the James Cummings-trained daughter of Sepoy Alizee.
She won the Group 1 Flight Stakes (1600m) by an impressive two and a quarter-lengths at the Randwick track last September before a trip to Melbourne where she ran third to Aloisia in the Group 1 Thousand Guineas (1600m), failing to complete the interstate mile double achieved by last Global Glamour the year before.
Global Glamour also came back last autumn and took out the Light Fingers Stakes, a form-line Alizee will be out to frank again in 2018.
Alizee has trialled once ahead of her return finishing second to star The Everest winning sprinter Redzel and has been nominated for a host of majors during April’s ‘The Championships’.
The Light Fingers Stakes is just the beginning for the proven young miler who has been entered for the Doncaster Mile (1600m), TJ Smith Stakes (1200m), Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m), Queen Of The Turf Stakes (1600m) and the Arrowfield 3YO Sprint (1200m).
The other highest-rated filly in the Light Fingers Stakes field this season is the Stephen Autridge & Jamie Richards-trained Melody Belle who has suffered an early blow drawing wide in gate 12.
A Kiwi-trained daughter of Commands, Melody Belle is a Group 1 winner back in New Zealand and also has Group 2 winning form down under first-up in the winter last year taking out the BTC Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) by nearly five lengths.
She was last seen taking out a Group 3 sprint by three and a half-lengths as the odds-on favourite at Ellerslie on January 27 and should prove a competitive force on Saturday in her first Sydney assignment.
The far outside barrier meanwhile belongs to Edward O’Rourke’s returning Husson filly Frolic.
A two-time winner from three previous Randwick starts, Frolic was last seen running seventh to Invader on a mud track in the Group 1 ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) back in April last year.
That followed an excellent autumn that included a Group 2 Reisling Stakes (1200m) success by over two lengths defeating Golden Slipper winner She Will Reign, who then turned the table when Frolic ran second in the $3.5 million classic last March.
Local horseman O’Rourke has also accepted for his daughter of Not A Single Doubt From Within (barrier three), who has just the one win from eight career starts to date.
Newcastle’s Kris Lees is also dually represented in the Light Fingers Stakes field with stablemates Yulong Xingsheng, a black-type winner at Sandown last November, and All Too Hard filly Sasso Corbaro drawn in gates two and seven respectively.
Other standouts include the Peter & Paul Snowden-trained Warranty, also a daughter of All Too Hard, and the undefeated Chris Waller-trained Charlayne both drawn wide in barriers 11 and 13 respectively.
See below for the official Light Fingers Stakes 2018 field, barriers and jockeys with markets on the Randwick showdown to open shortly at Ladbrokes.com.au.
2018 Light Fingers Stakes Final Field & Barrier Draw
Randwick Race 8 (5:45pm) – 17/02/2018
| # | Form (Last 10) | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Barrier | Weight | H. Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 221127x | FROLIC | Edward O’Rourke | Jason Collett | 14 | 56kg | 100 |
| 2 | 81x110x361 | MELODY BELLE (NZ) | Stephen Autridge & Jamie Richards | Rory Hutchings | 12 | 56kg | 101 |
| 3 | 25x124113x | ALIZEE | James Cummings | Glyn Schofield | 4 | 56kg | 102 |
| 4 | 7x121x017x | DEBONAIRLY | Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott | Adam Hyeronimus | 10 | 56kg | 81 |
| 5 | 1x44241x | YULONG XINGSHENG | Kris Lees | Tye Angland | 2 | 56kg | 76 |
| 6 | 221×116 | SASSO CORBARO | Kris Lees | Brenton Avdulla | 7 | 56kg | 77 |
| 7 | 0x0212310x | TORVILL | Clarry Conners | Christian Reith | 9 | 56kg | 72 |
| 8 | 1054×8326 | FROM WITHIN | Edward O’Rourke | TBA | 3 | 56kg | 72 |
| 9 | 2111x3x51 | ELLIE’S ENCORE | Paul Perry | TBA | 1 | 56kg | 73 |
| 10 | 4113x | WARRANTY | Peter & Paul Snowden | TBA | 11 | 56kg | 70 |
| 11 | 11 | CHARLAYNE | Chris Waller | Jay Ford | 13 | 56kg | 73 |
| 12 | 2x0x35132 | KANGA’S EYE | Anthony & Edward Cummings | Josh Adams | 6 | 56kg | 63 |
| 13 | 12 | SHUMOOKH | Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott | Tim Clark | 5 | 56kg | 70 |
| 14 | 21 | EXCELLENT DESIGN | John P Thompson | TBA | 8 | 56kg | 67 |
