Muswellbrook preview: Trainer Angela Davies confident the bigger track will suit Annyidea
Angela Davies is still on a high following the win of Salina Dreaming at Warwick Farm last week and is looking for a stakes race in the coming months.
The Dream Ahead mare bolted in by three lengths and confirmed she was ready to take on much better racing after Sydney’s autumn carnival is over in three weeks.
“I thought she could win the race but maybe not as easy as she did,” Davies said.
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Trainer Angela Davies has high ambitions for smart mare Salina Dreaming. Photo: Grant GuySource:The Daily Telegraph
“There was a lot of talk about the other horses but I kept thinking why would they be better than her. She’d won a city Saturday race and beat The Face who was then Group placed.
“There’s a couple of Listed races coming up and I’m looking at the Hawkesbury Rush and the Ortensia.”
On Friday at Muswellbrook, Davies is keen to keep her small stable’s form going with two good chances.
Annyidea is the leading contender in the fifth race, a Maiden Plate (1280m).
The All Too Hard filly hasn’t been seen for a month since running third at Gosford on debut.
Wet weather has kept her off the racetrack but she’s done well at home.
She just needs to start better this time to give herself a chance of winning at start two under James Innes Jr.
While she has to contend with a wide gate but Davies has at least found a Group 1-winning jockey to help.
“She went super after we had some barrier trouble with her. She had a tendency to drop her head coming out of the machines,” Davies said.
“She got a fair way out of her ground early in the race be certainly rocketed to the line and you’d have to think a bigger track at Muswellbrook would be suitable for her.”
Jockey James Innes Jnr will partner Momack for Angela Davies at Muswellbrook on Friday. Photo: Simon Bullard/AAP ImageSource:AAP
Momack runs for the Gosford trainer in a race earlier over 1500m.
The Uncle Mo four-year-old is having his second start for Davies after running fourth at Tamworth over 1200m on a heavy track last start.
“He’s second-up over 1500m so it will just depend how wet that track gets, but he is a bit of a one-paced horse though,” Davies said.
“He has to be an each-way chance and he’ll definitely run the trip. I think he needs 2000m, not 1500m.
“He wouldn’t stop pulling when he came to me and he didn’t know how to race.”
Davies thinks she’s got at least a middle distance horse on her hands and Friday’s race will give her a better idea.
“If he can get 2000m, we might be able to have a bit of fun with him over that ground in the country circuit,” Davies said.
“He just indicates that he does want to relax and he’s got this big floating stride and it looks like he will stay.
“He looks well and is going well and this another stepping stone.”
Davies has given the job of riding Momack to victory to apprentice Dylan Gibbons who she had faith in to handle the free-running type.
“The weight off him will help. We’ve got a real shortage of decent apprentices and when you get a horse like this that can tug a bit the kids aren’t strong enough sometimes,” she said.
STISS HAS CASIRINA READY TO STRIKE BACK
Trainer Ross Stitt is expecting Casirina to be right in the finish at Muswellbrook on Friday.
The grey three-year-old, who is by Casino Prince, is fourth-up heading into a Benchmark 58 Handicap (1750m) after running fifth over 1720m at Grafton last start.
His sixth placing a run before at Scone was the one that showed his class.
He was less than five lengths off Charmmebaby in a Country Championships Qualifier (1400m) and could have found his way into this weekend’s $500,000 Final.
“It was just too short for him that day. He got stood on his head at the top of the straight and he probably should’ve run a clear second,” Stitt said.
“He was stiff after something came back on top of him but that’s the way it goes.”
Stitt said Casirina is hitting top gear heading into Friday’s third race and he proved last preparation when running home for second over 2100m that he will be strong through the line.
“He’ll take a bit of beating,” Stitt said.
Trainer Ross Stitt is confident Casirina will be hard to beat at Muswellbrook on Friday. Photo: Bruce Thomas/Grafton Daily ExaminerSource:News Regional Media
“He’s had a pretty good preparation and the work he put in on Tuesday was probably the best piece of work he’s produced this time in.
“If he wins this race I’d have to look at a race on Tamworth Cup Day. The horse goes well.
“He’s probably one of the better winded horses I’ve ever had and he’ll take some tossing in this race.
“He’s a nice, manageable horse, who does need a bit of luck because he gets back a bit.”
He doesn’t have barrier 10 this time however and Hall of Famer Robert Thompson will be able to give him a better run in gate four which give him a much better chance of winning again.
“He should be in a handier spot. He hasn’t drawn that well of late and there’s no reason why he can’t win that race,” Stitt said.
“He’ll get 2000m. He’ll probably even get 2400m but there aren’t many of those races for him.”
Originally published asMuswellbrook preview: Big track looks a good Idea for Anny
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