The Scone stand-alone meeting will be a fork in the road for Godolphin’s emerging sprinter Andermatt as James Cummings looks to test his distance credentials.
The four-year-old has posted a brace of facile wins over 1100 metres since returning to racing as a gelding and Cummings is keen to see if he can produce a similar performance when stepped up to 1300m in Saturday’s Listed Luskin Star Stakes.
If he can, it will open the door to a start in next month’s Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) at Eagle Farm and longer term, could put him in contention for Godolphin’s Everest slot.
“The Stradbroke would loom up and look very enticing for a horse coming through his grades so fast,” Cummings said.
“You can see the races I have been interested in running him in in the past and some of the opposition he met as a two-year-old and the promise he was showing there.
“He is really putting it together now in great style.
“As long as he can get in a good rhythm and relax in the 1300 and still be as effective, that will be something of a challenge for the horse, but I think it’s certainly worthy of trying him at this stage.”
Andermatt is also an emergency for the Ortensia Stakes (1100m) on Saturday’s program but even if he gains a run, Cummings says the Luskin Star is the more likely assignment.
The latter has been a springboard for Godolphin’s emerging sprinters, notably Trekking who was successful in 2019 before going on to claim the Stradbroke Handicap and finish third in The Everest the following spring.
Cummings is equally excited to see how impressive debut winner In Secret measures up in the Listed Vinery Woodlands Stakes (1100m), a race that has launched the careers of several talented fillies including Flippant (2105), Libertini (2019) and the ill-fated Xtremetime 12 months ago.
A rare sales purchase for Godolphin, In Secret is beautifully bred being by I Am Invincible out of Eloping.
She fetched $900,000 as a yearling and Cummings has high hopes she can live up to her pedigree, both this weekend and beyond.
“I would be pretty excited about her that if she could get up and win this race, she would have excellent prospects for us in the spring as a rising three-year-old filly,” Cummings said.
“The fact she is so well respected in the market in a stakes race at her second start suggests that we are really going somewhere with her.”
In Secret is a $3.40 favourite, while Andermatt is also a $2.30 top pick to continue his winning sequence in the Luskin Star Stakes.