Talented
mare Fillydelphia will be on trial to join star stablemate Buffering and co. in
Melbourne when she makes her comeback at Eagle Farm on Saturday.
Fillydelphia
returns in the Biflex Handicap (1300m) with Ryan Wiggins in the saddle.
Trainer Rob
Heathcote has not yet decided on a Melbourne program for the five-year-old and will
be guided by her performance before making any definite plans.
Fillydelphia has not started since her failure behind Red Tracer in the G2
Dane Ripper Stakes at Eagle Farm in June.
"This
race is crucial to her program and a strong performance could well see her join
her stablemates in Melbourne," Heathcote said.
Heathcote was disappointed with
Fillydelphia's winter carnival performances before discovering she had a low
grade virus.
Fillydelphia,
a winner of eight of her 26 starts, has had the benefit of an easy barrier
trial win at Doomben recently in preparation for her return.
"She's
only had the one barrier trial but she won it quite convincingly and is coming
along well so I'm expecting her to go well first-up," Heathcote said.
Heathcote
praised Racing Queensland for adding the race to the Eagle Farm program after her
original comeback race on Monday was abandoned due to insufficient acceptors.
"I'm
very thankful for Racing Queensland for adding this race to the program after the
race we had planned for her on Monday was abandoned," Heathcote said.
Heathcote
has several runners at Eagle Farm as well as Excellantes, who makes his Melbourne
debut in the G2 Gilgai Stakes down the straight six at Flemington.
Heathcote conceded
Excellantes faces an uphill battle in the Gilgai but expects a strong showing
from the five-year-old son of Falvelon.
Excellantes
hasn't raced since finishing second to River Lad in the G3 Healy Stakes (1200m)
at Eagle Farm in late June.
Only a
small field of seven will contest the Biflex Handicap with last start winners Jet
Style and Whateverwhenever the main dangers to Fillydelphia.
The Eagle
Farm program will see two divisions of the first crop of two-year-olds to race in
Brisbane this season.
Trainer Tony
Gollan looks likely to play a major hand in both races with Global Dream in the
Bundaberg Distilling Co. Handicap and Whiskey Allround in the Timeform
Handicap.
Global
Dream scored a runaway win in an 800-metre Doomben trial last month while Whiskey
Allround won the first-two-old race of
the season, the Brisbane Bloodstock Hopeful Plate (1000m), by more than eight
lengths on the cushion track at Toowoomba on September 22.
Racing
Queensland webnews October 4
Photo:
Racetrack Photography
