Pakenham trainers Peter Moody and Katherine Coleman are happy to dream big after their three-old-filly Sheza Alibi made a huge first-up impression at Caulfield on Saturday.
Having her first start since winning the Group 2 Sandown Guineas in the spring, the daughter of Saxon Warrior/Sheza Gypsy pushed through a needle-eye opening in the straight to waltz away with the $300,000 Group 2 Angus Armanasco Stakes (1400m).
Original plans were based around Sheza Alibi running at Flemington a week earlier, in preparation for a tilt at the Australian Guineas on February 28.
But Moody and Coleman took a long term approach to their thinking, keeping their powder dry for a week to keep the talented filly primed for future targets.
“We just thought she needed to come on a little bit, she needed one more gallop…and I’m happy we did it, do the right thing by her,” Moody said post-race.
“Unfortunately it cost us the opportunity to run next Saturday in the Australian Guineas, which was always our aim.
“Now we might have to head to Sydney to take them on in the Randwick Guineas.”
Moody suggested it would be a hit and run mission through the autumn, with Sheza Alibi showing the potential to have a red-hot crack at some of the biggest races on the calendar.
“We’re open minded; it won’t be a deep campaign, that’s why we were keen to run her down here twice, because she had a long year last year,” he explained.
“It won’t be deep and we’ll be back for the spring.
“You dream that she could be a Cox Plate filly, but you’ve got races like the Golden Eagle and the Empire Rose; there are a lot of options so we just need to make sure we look after her.
“We’ve got the fillies option at Flemington in two weeks, at the mile, or the Randwick Guineas, or if she needs an extra week maybe we can look at something else in Sydney.
“No rush; we’ll enjoy today first.”
Moody was also glowing and respectful after winning his fifth Armanasco.
“I’m wonderfully proud to win this race; Angus Armanasco, one of the doyens of the turf, and for me to have the opportunity to train out of his base here at Caulfield, for all the years I did, after all the great success he had, five times now, it makes me very proud,” he said.
“It’s a bit like winning the TJ (Smith) in Sydney for me.
“My old boss and my old landlord.
“I know there’s not a lot of Armanasco’s left around, but I’m thinking of them and it’s great to win the race named in the great man’s honour.”
