By MIKE DILLON
Sunline is a definite runner in the $A450,000 All Aged Stakes at Randwick on Saturday.
Trainer Trevor McKee said at Avondale races yesterday the opportunity to spell Sunline a week earlier made the All Aged a better option than the $A750,000 Queen Elizabeth Stakes the following Saturday.
"The Queen Elizabeth Stakes is very good, but then so is the All Aged."
McKee said the Cox Plate was much more likely to be Sunline's spring target rather than an American campaign.
"The Cox Plate is rumoured to be worth $A3 million this year and that's just too tempting when it's on your back door."
Sunline's grit and toughness mean she will strip as fit on Saturday as she did for her gallant Doncaster second.
"She failed after last year's Doncaster, but she was on the way down at that stage," said rider Greg Childs yesterday.
"This time she's at the top of her form."
Nahayan, yes again, did not enjoy the best of runs in finishing just behind the placegetters in Saturday's $A500,000 Chairman's Handicap at Randwick.
"She got jammed up between horses and was in the clear only in the closing stages," said McKee.
Nahayan will run in the St Leger in preference to the Sydney Cup.
* * *
If you were one those who did your money on Woodward Street at Avondale - and plenty did - it may pay to give him another chance.
Everything went wrong before the big bloke finished just out of the money in his first start since August. Horses were not winning further than two or three widths off the inside rail and Opie Bosson could not prevent Woodward Street drifting out to the middle of the track approaching the home bend.
"He was on one rein and if I'd let his head go he'd have gone straight to the outside rail."
Woodward Street lost ground on the leaders before making up a couple of lengths late.
"He never felt happy," said Bosson.
Co-trainer Andrew Scott said there is improvement in Woodward Street.
Promising filly Regency is heading for the spelling paddock after finishing second to visitor Felicity Fair.
Regency did well to defy the pattern which fiercely favoured handy runners to come from well back.
"We tried to find better footing out in the centre, but there wasn't any there," said rider Peter Johnson.
* * *
Wass that really Jack Denham who spoke to the press after Fairway's Derby win at the weekend?
Surely not.
Remarkably, he did not even hesitate when the Sky racing frontperson pushed a microphone into his face as he waited for Fairway to come back to the weigh-in.
The Sky frontperson who tried the same tactic with Denham after Might And Power won the Melbourne Cup was not so lucky.
The old bloke said just two words into the camera, the second of which was "off".
* * *
Mark Sweeney says don't drop Kiwi filly Moralee for Saturday's $A200,000 Australasian Oaks in Adelaide.
Moralee could finish only fifth in her Australian debut in the $A100,000 Lakewood Stud Stakes, but the unique Cheltenham track did not suit the filly's style of racing.
"And the rain-affected footing was against her," said Sweeney yesterday.
"The connections were so concerned about the track they considered scratching her."
Moralee got back in running, found the two tight turns between the 1000m and the home turn hard to manage and battled on strongly.
The expansive Morphettville track, with its long home straight, will suit her better on Saturday.
* * *
We've seen the last of Pravda.
Trainer Paul O'Sullivan will leave the rapidly improving mare in his Sydney stable after her gutsy win in the weekend's $A500,000.
Pravda looks a Melbourne Cup type. If she can make the usual Zabeel improvement between seasons, she should be right there at Flemington in November.
* * *
The Jillings/Yuill stable has two smart improving stayers in Trigger and Classic Babe.
Trigger showed versatility to come off a firm track campaign and win in very soft footing at Avondale yesterday and Classic Babe made it three from only eight starts at Ellerslie on Monday.
"She is going to make into a very good mare," predicted rider Matthew Williamson of Classic Babe and Colin Jillings did not disagree.
"Look at her," said Jillings, "she's still a light little thing. She can spell now and she'll come back a much stronger horse next season."
Racing: Early return to Randwick for champion
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