Coolangatta’s connections will follow Nature Strip’s successful path to Royal Ascot glory with the filly set to be housed with trainer Charlie Hills at Lambourn in the UK.
Dave Eustace said he and training partner Ciaron Maher favour the private training set-up for the filly as she heads towards the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes (1000m), which was won so conclusively by 4.5 lengths last year by Nature Strip.
“We are staying at Charlie Hills’ (stable),” Eustace said. ” We thought we’d repeat what Chris Waller did and hope that will work.
“We thought about Newmarket naturally but we both thought it’s quite busy Newmarket. There’s quite a lot going on and Charlie actually trains at his own property, so it’s pretty quiet.
“The biggest thing to undertake is the travel, particularly a three-year-old filly, and she’s not difficult. At one point in time, she was fairly highly strung, so it will be a big thing for her, although she has done a lot of travel, which is going to hold her in good stead.
“She did Magic Millions (Gold Coast), she’s done the Slipper (Sydney) and she started off life in Melbourne, so at least she is used to different places.”
Coolangatta’s preparation takes a big step on Tuesday when she has a trial before taking up the chance to trial her on the straight track at Flemington along with fellow Royal Ascot hopefuls Artorius and Cannonball.
“She trials with Artorius and Cannonball on the 29th (May) and then flies out on the 6th (June).”
– racing.com
