Catkins To Defend Breeders Classic Title
- Sunday, 01 February 2015 07:32
Group One placegetters Catkins and Delectation head Chris Waller's team for Rosehill as momentum builds towards the autumn carnival.
A defence of the Group Two Breeders' Classic (1200m) is Saturday's target for Catkins who will be joined by stablemate Arinosa in the mares' 1200m sprint.
Delectation begins his campaign in the Group Three Eskimo Prince Stakes (1200m) and Waller has high hopes for the gelding, a surprise second to stablemate Brazen Beau in the Coolmore Stud Stakes at Flemington in November.
Waller said the set weights and penalties of the Breeders' Classic suited Catkins who has been placed twice in the Myer Classic and ran third in the Coolmore Classic last autumn.
"The conditions of the race are ideal for her," Waller said.
"She is probably a bit more forward than Arinosa and is a class mare."
Catkins carried 55.5kg to win the race a year ago and will go up to 57kg this time around.
Arinosa missed the spring and will be striving for her first win since the Group Three Premiere Stakes in October 2013.
Delectation won three races as a two-year-old and his four spring starts brought two fourths and two place cheques including his Coolmore Stud second at $51.
He holds entries to both the Australian Guineas (1600m) and the Newmarket Handicap (1200m) and Waller is still deciding whether he will be kept to sprints this time around.
"The whole of his last preparation was spent trying to get him to switch off," he said.
"He is now starting to come of age mentally and his Coolmore placing shows what is capable of doing.
"But whether he is a sprinter or can be stretched to a mile, I'm still not sure."
The other feature on the Rosehill program, the $250,000 Inglis Classic, is also over 1200 metres and is restricted to horses bought at the yearling sale which gives the race its name.
