3 minute read
A ‘sharper and stronger’ Mallory will be out to make a spring statement in Saturday’s Group 2 $200,000 Darley Silver Shadow Stakes (1200m)
While the three-year-old was the Widden Stakes winner earlier this year she was generally under the radar at two but co-trainer Gerald Ryan said Mallory is exciting him a little at this early stage.
Mallory has trialled twice with trackwork rider Kelly Flynn on board and Ryan said her feedback has been encouraging.
"(Kelly's) always said this time in she's a lot sharper and got more speed this time in. She's said that all along,'' Ryan said.
"I think she's come on, she's grown and strengthened. She looks well, she's working good and trialling well."
The Not A Single Doubt filly was a $9 chance with TAB on Thursday after the scratching of She's All Class.
Prior to her midfield finish in the Golden Slipper, Mallory finished third behind Four Moves Ahead and She's All Class in the Sweet Embrace Stakes and Ryan, who co-trains with Sterling Alexiou, is eyeing the bulk of the Princess Series with her.
"If she didn't get flattened (at the 600m) she'd have finished in the first half dozen in the Slipper,'' he said.
"We're hoping she takes the next step. It's different on race day but we are happy with the way she's coming up.
"She'll go through the first two (Princess Series) races and perhaps the 1400m race (Tea Rose).
"If we think she can run a mile we'll go to the Flight Stakes. If not, we'll go a different path."
Godolphin trainer James Cummings is experimenting with Group 2 placed filly Trifaccia in the Silver Shadow despite her first-up defeat in a Kensington maiden earlier this month.
That Group 2 placing was in the Reisling Stakes and Cummings said the set weights and penalties conditions give Trifaccia a chance to measure up.
She started $6 in the Group 2 Percy Sykes before a spell but when $2 favourite first-up she raced three wide outside the speed and kept coming to be beaten just over a length by Lovemetender.
"She's got to get it right before she proves she's a good horse,'' he said.
"She's meeting some of these fillies as a maiden because I want to take advantage of the weight pull early in the Silver Shadow that I won't be getting in the Furious and Tea Rose if we remain in the Princess Series.
"It's very much testing the water with a run under her belt and the weight pull on the better credentialed fillies."
Cummings said he's still assessing whether stablemate Picarones, who finished seventh behind Silent Impact first-up a month ago, will take her place.
"She was intending to run last week where she would have been better suited in the handicap,'' he said.
"I might wait a little longer for another target depending on how well it might suit her campaign."
