While many in the racing fraternity will feel the absence of the traditional Moonee Valley circuit, trainer Trent Edmonds is not perturbed by the timing of its renovation.
This Saturday, the Moonee Valley Racing Club is hosting its first Cox Plate meeting away from ‘The Valley’, and Edmonds will be at Flemington with his Pakenham stable’s star, Extragalactic.
The classy mare is set to compete in the $300,000 Group 2 McEwen Stakes over 1200 metres.
This will be her third run this campaign, with each of her previous starts occurring in races typically held at Moonee Valley.
The four-year-old’s sole previous start at the tight Moonee Ponds circuit was at the farewell Cox Plate Day meeting last year, where she finished ninth of twelve in the Listed Crockett Stakes (1200m).
“She’s a different horse from 12 months ago, but the day that she ran at The Valley in the Crockett on Cox Plate day last year, she didn’t quite get around it that well,” Edmonds explained.
“So I’m not complaining about the about the races not being there this year.
“I’m sure once it’s reconfigured and we’re back there, she’ll race there at some stage, but she’s going to butter up at Flemington on Saturday and she’s in good form.”
The Crockett Stakes is one of only two occasions where Extragalactic has not placed in nine starts. The other was her fourth-place finish in the Group 1 Moir Stakes (1000m) at Sandown to commence this campaign.
Her most recent outing saw her finish second to Jimmysstar in the Group 1 Manikato Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield.
Edmonds is pleased that the McEwen Stakes has been scheduled for Flemington, as it offers the mare a chance to experience the straight track and serves as an audition for major races at the same venue.
“It is an audition for possibly the Champions Sprint, or even the Lightning or Newmarket in the autumn.
“I wanted to give her a look down there for the future basically.
“It’ll be interesting, we’re obviously hopeful she’ll handle it, but there’s only one way we’re going to find out.
“Not that it’s dead straight, but she’s done a lot of work up the back at the turf club here (Pakenham) on what we call the rise track, which is like a dog leg and then straight for sort of 900 metres.
“We’ve done a little bit of work with her up there since the Manikato, she gets up there well, and I’m very happy with her.”
Extragalactic is one of 14 entries for the McEwen Stakes, with potential rivals including Jigsaw, Splash Back, Mazu, Rey Magnerio, and Smooth Chino.
Fans can find the latest racing betting markets for the McEwen Stakes at betting sites.
