CLARRY Conners has his sights set on the Championships headline event – the Queen Elizabeth Stakes – with Oaks winner Dear Demi, but she won’t be a BMW starter. Conners has outlined plans for Dear Demi, placed in last year’s Caulfield Cup and Mackinnon Stakes, but they don’t include the BMW.

Dear Demi will open her autumn in the $150,000 Group 3 Wiggle Stakes (1400 m) at Warwick Farm on March 8.

Conners said the four-year-old would then head to the Coolmore Classic and then have one more run before the $4 million Queen Elizabeth (2000 m) at Randwick on April 19.

He noted he didn’t want Dear Demi to race in a 2400 metre race then come back to the Queen Elizabeth.

“I could not be happier with her,” enthused Conners. “She is a tough mare, she likes racing and she keeps coming up. She is sound, she is a racehorse – not a show pony.”

Dear Demi, a winner of $1.9 million, trialled well behind stablemate Satin Shoes at Warwick Farm last week.

Conners said Satin Shoes had been retired after she had been badly galloped on during the Ligthning Handicap at Eagle Farm last June.

He said the mare had been sent to stud, but when she failed to get in foal she was brought back into work.

“She trialled on the bit, beautifully. There was a lot of personal satisfaction, she is just a lovely mare,” Conners said.

Satin Shoes will resume in the Challenge Stakes (1000 m) at Randwick on March 15.

“I just want to keep her under the radar if I can,” he said. (racingnetwork)