Cambridge Stud are under no illusions about the task ahead of Silver Wedding at Ellerslie on Saturday, with connections hoping she has one more peak performance to come.
The Ciaron Maher-trained four-year-old full sister to Group I winner Schwarz will tackle the Gr.3 Elsdon Park Aotearoa Classic (1600m) ahead of a spell.
“There wasn’t any obvious black-type races in Brisbane or Sydney and this one was on the radar, so we brought her over and win, lose or draw she’ll have four weeks at the farm at Karaka and then go back to Sydney,” Cambridge’s chief executive Henry Plumptre said.
“It’s hard to line-up the form, she’s an improving type with a good turn of foot and she’s a Zoustar and they can keep improving.
“She’s showed good progress against weaker opposition, it is quite a strong race with depth and that’s the difference.
“We just hope that improvement she showed in Brisbane might keep going for one more run.”
Silver Wedding broke her maiden in Sydney last year before she was sent inter-state where she flourished.
“She’s been a work in progress for Ciaron and we’ve been deliberately quite strategic where she’s been placed,” Plumptre said.
“That’s why she went up to Brisbane to try and find some metropolitan races she could win and get her confidence up, as she has been quite an anxious type.
“She put two together up there and should have won a third and we were looking around for some black type to run in before she went to the paddock for a spell.”
Silver Wedding was successful at Doomben and Eagle Farm and then finished runner-up at the latter venue last time out in early January.
Cambridge Stud’s colours will also be carried by the Tony Pike-trained Lucy In The Sky (Gr.3 Almanzor Trophy, 1200m) and stablemate Argo in the $1.5 million TAB Karaka Millions 3YO Classic (1600m).
Lucy In The Sky won the Listed Champagne Stakes (1200m) last season before she was put aside and was unplaced when resuming at Ellerslie earlier this month.
“I think she might possibly be needed to be ridden a little bit cold rather than trying to lead them up,” Plumptre said.
“As you step up in that three-year-old stakes class, it gets increasingly difficult to lead all the way.”
She is by the stud’s champion 2024/25 freshman sire Hello Youmzain, who will also be represented in the farm-sponsored event by the unbeaten Drops Of God, Bulgari, Cream Tart and first emergency Places To Be.
“He’s had a stack of winners, 100 from his first two crops and all we need now is the big one to crack the ceiling,” Plumptre said.
Meanwhile, Argo won two on the bounce before he handled a rise in class admirably to finish third in the Gr.2 Levin Classic (1400m) at Trentham.
The farm will also hold a strong hand in the opening event, the HKJC World Pool Jo Giles Stakes (1400m) with the in-form duo of the Lance Noble-prepared Frostfair and Cody Cole’s Power Of Three to go head-to-head. – LOVERACING.NZ News Desk
