The expansive Randwick track could be the key to Tulloch Lodge youngster Summer Loving breaking through for an overdue win when she faces a rematch with Magic Millions conqueror Skirt The Law.
The pair will clash in the Group 2 Sweet Embrace Stakes (1200m) at Randwick on Saturday after Summer Loving rattled home for third behind Skirt The Law the only time they met at the Gold Coast.
It was the third time the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott two-year-old had filled a minor placing in as many starts, and Bott hoped getting her onto her home track for the first time could be a significant turning point.
“She seems in really good order and I think the big track at home on Saturday will really suit her,” Bott told Sky Sports radio.
“Hopefully as she matures and gets that little more seasoned she can be tactically a little bit better in the early part of her races.”
Summer Loving has settled in the second half of the field in all three starts, each time doing her best work late.
She will meet a handy field of fillies in the Sweet Embrace with the undefeated Skirt The Law making her Sydney debut, while several horses who were competitive behind reigning Golden Slipper favourite Learning To Fly in the Inglis Millennium are slated to run, including runner-up Blanc De Blanc and fourth and fifth placegetters Lazzago and Facile.
Bott knows Summer Loving faces another tough task but he says she needs to step up if she is to press on to the Slipper.
“She’s going around in the Sweet Embrace on Saturday and that certainly looks to be a strong line-up there so that will give us a good gauge,” he said.
“We want to see her performing well and using that as the main lead-up to the Slipper.
“She will need to be running top-three in that race to be pushing on that way.”
The stable also have Bases Loaded and Ganbare in the Skyline Stakes (1200m) for the males, Bases Loaded having won his debut on the Kensington circuit while Ganbare followed a win at Canberra with a slashing effort in the Millennium when he came from last to finish seventh.
Bott expects Ganbare to again find some of his rivals too speedy but is hoping he can continue to lay a strong foundation for races like the Sires’ Produce (1400m) and Champagne Stakes (1600m).
“I’d love to get him to those types of races. I think once we see him under those conditions that’s where he’s going to really excel,” Bott said.
“Even as he matures, he’s going to be a better three-year-old in time.”
Waterhouse and Bott will also be represented by unbeaten colt The Instructor in the Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m) in Melbourne.