Owner Wally Daly has not ruled out top juvenile Brave Halo coming back to Perth and running in the Group 2 $500,000 Karrakatta Plate (1200m) at Ascot in April.
Daly has left the door ajar on Brave Halo returning for WA’s richest two-year-old race, setting up a potential mouth-watering showdown with Live To Tell.
Brave Halo and Live To Tell clashed in the Initial Plate (1000m) at Ascot last October with the former gaining bragging rights with a narrow victory.
While Live To Tell went straight to the paddock after pulling up shin sore, Brave Halo won a further two races to remain undefeated at home.
He then travelled east to Melbourne and if not for an ounce of bad luck he could have galloped away with better than two creditable fourths.
In the Blue Diamond Prelude (1100m) he was held up in the straight and in last weekend’s G1 Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m) he got galloped on.
Ridden by Damian Oliver, the Sean and Jake Casey-trained colt, charged home from a wide barrier to be beaten 1 ½ lengths at Sandown.
Daly said there are several options he has to consider, but coming back to have a crack at the Karrakatta Plate is appealing.
“At the moment we are looking at his back leg after he got galloped on,” Daly told The Races WA.
“He had a couple of stitches, but luckily there was no tendon injury.
“Damian (Oliver) is pretty keen for him to go to Sydney for the Golden Slipper, but the late entry fee and turnaround from Saturday is against him.
“I think we could come back for the Karrakatta Plate, that looks an option or we could spell him and go to Melbourne again in the spring as a three-year-old.”
Meanwhile, Live To Tell served noticed she was on track for her Karrakatta Plate assault after a sizzling trial win at Belmont yesterday (Monday).
Jockey Pat Carbery had to give her a shake up near the post to keep her mind on the job, but she coasted in by nine lengths to underline her promise.
Live To Tell is now the Tabtouch favourite for the Karrakatta Plate on April 15, firming from $4.80 into $3 after her trial.
She displaces Super Smink at the head of the market, the Magic Millions Perth 2YO Classic (1200m) winner is at $3.80. Brave Halo is $8.
A winner of four Karrakatta Plates, Miller says he is a big fan of Live To Tell.
“I really thought she could win on debut and was really gutted when she got rolled as the favourite,” Miller told The Races WA.
“But I could put some context around it after she went shin sore.
“She’s a smart filly and I knew that from the first time she had a gallop.
“When Pat Carbery first sat on her he said I think this is a Karrakatta Plate horse.
“From the moment I put a saddle on her I knew she was pretty smart.
“She is clearly my number one seed for the Karrakatta.”
Live To Tell will kick off her campaign in the Supremacy Stakes (1000m) on March 18
She’ll then run in the Gimcrack Stakes (1100m), the Karrakatta Plate and WA Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m).
Night War (2011) gave Miller his first Karrakatta Plate success before following up with Whispering Brook (2016), Valor Road (2018) and Amelia’s Jewel (2021).