Trainer Charlotte Littlefield confessed to feeling the heat as Concord Connie stepped out for her initial spring run at Mornington, following a successful sequence of three consecutive wins in the late autumn.
Concord Connie, the firm $1.30 favourite, was narrowly beaten over 1200m on September 26.
While disheartened by the result, Littlefield reported that Concord Connie had performed well, and the trainer is anticipating another strong performance from the mare in Saturday’s Group 3 Tristarc Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield.
“I think everybody involved in Connie felt the pressure first-up,” Littlefield remarked. “There was a lot of talk about her, and I felt she ran super. It was simply a track that didn’t suit, and we knew that. Everyone had caveats against her leading into that race, but there wasn’t another option. She wasn’t ready to travel to Sydney and that was the only other option for her as there wasn’t a race for her at Caulfield (a day later). We were delayed a week as we were going to go to the How Now Stakes at Caulfield, but that was very competitive and the weather forced us to go a week later. Sometimes you just have to roll with the punches and see how that go. A win would have been great. She thought she had won, we all thought she had won, and in the end, it was a bob of the head.”
With that outing now behind her and an increase in distance to 1400m, Littlefield is optimistic about Concord Connie’s prospects.
However, the trainer expressed some apprehension about Concord Connie’s draw in gate 11 for the 1400m trip at Caulfield, noting the mare’s historical preference for racing at Flemington.
Littlefield’s ultimate aim is to see Concord Connie compete in the Group 1 Empire Rose Stakes (1600m) at Flemington on October 31.
“We know that she is a Flemington horse, but we are having to go where we need to go being that grade of horse,” Littlefield stated. “We would love to end there (Flemington) during Cup week. There’s a couple of nice options and Saturday will tell us which option. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, but she is definitely a better product heading into this race and will be better again. The way she is going, she will run very well on Saturday.”
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