Many of the state’s top trainers have runners nominated for Saturday’s June Stakes (1100m) at Royal Randwick with one notable exception.
Premier trainer Chris Waller won’t have a runner in the $100,000 race and has only one, Our Voodoo Price, nominated for the other feature of the day, the $100,000 Stayers Cup (3200m).
But one horse that will definitely be taking her place in the June Stakes is the David Pfieffer-trained Cradle Me: “She’ll be there on Saturday, rain, hail or shine,” Pfieffer said.
The six-year-old mare is coming off a 12th place finish in the Arrowfield Ortensia Stakes at Scone on May 16, but wasn’t suited by the conditions that day according to Pfieffer who said it should be a different story on Saturday.
Left: Cradle Me - a definite starter in Saturday's June Stakes. Image by - Bradley Photographers
“She just didn’t get enough room at Scone and they ran a track record that day. They were tightly bunched and Sam [Clipperton] said he got a bit too far back and she had too much to do,” he said.
“She did hit the line well that day, though, and I’m happy with her. The nominations say that there will be speed on in this race and that’s what we want.”
Cradle Me has won eight races from 37 starts but is yet to crack it for a black-type win despite having several attempts at it last campaign when finishing behind the likes of Ball Of Muscle and Out Boy Malachi.
“She’s been running in black-type races and the form around her has been very solid so I’m expecting a good run on Saturday,” Pfieffer said. “She’s better second-up and the stats suggest that.”
Final acceptances close on Wednesday at 9am.