Courtesy of Racing.com author Ben Sporle image: Bradley Photos
Matthew Dale is not unfamiliar to success in Victoria and he isn’t going to let COVID-19 stop him testing his filly Pretty Woman in Saturday’s $160,000 Listed Cap D’Antibes Stakes (1100m) at Flemington.
Pretty Woman will resume for the Canberra-based horseman this weekend after making a name for herself in the autumn with two dominant victories at home.
“I’m not able to come down or can’t send a staff member but outside of that, the routines with the transport don’t change much,” Dale explained.
“She will travel down through Thursday night with transport from Sydney to Melbourne and she’ll arrive at Flemington Friday morning.”
Dale has trained three winners at Headquarters in his career and hopes his aptly named striking chestnut can be his next, identifying Melbourne’s spring program as more suitable for the daughter of Written Tycoon.
“She’s had a nice, balanced preparation, a couple of jumpouts at home and I’m happy with how she’s come up,” Dale said.
“It’s a strong enough edition of the race this year, it will be a really good indicator as to where we sit for the rest of the preparation.
“It’s a culmination of fillies from different form lines all with a bit of upside.
“It has been the race I’ve had earmarked for some time, purely because obviously it’s against her own age and sex.
“And in Sydney the programing sort of supports 1200 metres and up for the three-year-olds and fillies whereas in Melbourne there are some more sprinting options.
“This is the perfect place to kick off for her and then we will assess how she competes and assess where she goes, but I do have other options in Melbourne penciled in but we will get through Saturday first.”
