Godolphin filly Honeycreeper couldn’t come away with a win in the Tasmanian Oaks, but she has put herself in a position to land an even bigger classic victory.
Wearing blinkers for the first time, the three-year-old has demolished her rivals to claim Saturday’s Group 3 Adrian Knox Stakes (2000m) at Randwick and is in line to back-up in next weekends ‘ATC Australian Oaks (2400m).
Trainer James Cummings admitted he took her to Tasmania in February confident she could win but felt an 11-day turnaround, combined with the travel, took it’s toll on her and she finished third.
However, Honeycreeper ($12) was back to her best on Saturday, pouncing on the leaders and racing clear to score by 3-1/3 lengths over Charity Spirit ($14) with the winner’s stablemate Mamounia ($5.50 fav) another three lengths away third.
“She was actually not that well weighted today. It wasn’t as though she won on the minimum, so that’s something we would take into consideration that added extra merit to her win,” Cummings said.
“You’ve got to think about running in the Oaks but only if she is absolutely perfect.
“She is a lovely daughter of Teofilo and it would be beautiful to have her in the race and you’d be expecting her to be able to stay nicely.”
Honeycreeper was an acceptor for the Vinery Stud Stakes at Rosehill last Saturday but when that was moved to Newcastle due to the rain and the distance dropped to 1850m, Godolphin changed tack to target the Adrian Knox.
Winning jockey Hugh Bowman said Honeycreeper travelled sweetly throughout and would have no issue handling a distance rise in the Oaks.
“It was a dominant performance and she’ll race very well next week if she goes to the Oaks,” Bowman said.