Locals will be cheering home the in-form mare Savanna Amour when she lines up in the 2018 Group 1 $500,000 Sky Racing Tattersall’s Club Tiara (1350m) at Doomben on Saturday.
So far this Queensland Winter Racing Carnival, the southerners have collected all the Group 1 trophies with Sydney’s leading trainer Chris Waller bagging three with Youngstar in the Queensland Oaks, Comin’ Through in the Doomben Cup and The Autumn Sun in the J.J. Atkins Plate.
Other Group 1 results to go over the border were the Doomben 10,000 won by the Gai Waterhouse and Adian Bott trained English, the Kingsford-Smith Cupwon by Impending from the powerhouse Godolphin stable and the Stradbroke Handicap which was won by the Anthony Freedman trained Santa Ana Lane.
Eagle Farm trainer Chris Meagher said that Savanna Amour is well overdue to be tested at Group 1 level and she put herself into contention for the Tattersall’s Club Tiara with a narrow but solid win in the Listed $100,000 Makers Mark Hinkler Handicap (1200m) at Doomben on June 9.
“She’s been building up to this for a while,” Meagher told The Courier-Mail.
“She deserves to have a crack at it now. Coming in third up, fresh, it’s worked out great to this point.”
Meager’s confidence was boosted on Wednesday when he drew the number one marble at the barrier draw for the Tattersall’s Club Tiara and Ben Melham is certain to give Savanna Amour a cosy run on the fence just behind the leading division in the capacity sixteen horse field.
“We wanted 1-7 so to get the inside gate, she can bounce and put herself there. I’m happy to be in there, rather than outside,” Meagher said.
Meagher said that Savanna Amour has continued to please the stable since her Hinkler Handicap win and put in a solid final gallop on Wednesday morning.
“Her work (Wednesday) was great and we can’t fault her in any way,” Meagher said.
Savanna Amour has a pretty handy race record with seven wins from sixteen starts with her best result being a win in the Group 2 $200,000 Angus Armanasco Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield during the 2017 Melbourne Autumn Carnival.
Savanna Amour is currently sharing the third line of betting at $9 with Stradbroke Handicap runner up Super Cash behind the $5.50 favourite Champagne Cuddles and Prompt Response at $6.
– horseracing.com.au